


Don’t Blame Me (a Kim Namjoon au story)

by taytaedaylight13



Category: Taylor Swift (Musician), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternate Universe - Bangtan Boys | BTS A/B/O, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Attorney Kim Namjoon | RM, Attorney Kim Taehyung | V, Canon-Typical Violence, Chief Kim Seokjin | Jin, Drama, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Gun Violence, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, Inspired by K-Drama | Korean Drama, Kim Namjoon | RM is Whipped, Kim Namjoon | RM-centric, Law Student Park Jimin | Jimin, Lieutenant Jeon Jungkook | Jungkook, Monsieur Min Yoongi | SUGA, POV Alternating, POV Multiple, Professor Jung Hoseok | J-Hope, Slow Burn, Suspense, Sweet Kim Namjoon | RM
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:13:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 35,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29889921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taytaedaylight13/pseuds/taytaedaylight13
Summary: “There’s no such thing as normalcy in the kind of life I’ve chosen.”When Kim Namjoon made a name for himself after becoming one of the most charismatic & intelligent young lawyers under the age of 30 in France, you’d think life would be the easiest for him.But it wasn’t.Not ever since he stepped foot into the world where there was only darkness every step of the way after one case turned his whole life around.He found excitement and fulfillment within the new line of his duty. But then as his world was moving in a fast paced motion, everything crumbled again as the family he was swore loyalty to perished.So, he went back to Seoul, South Korea. The very country where he was born at. The very country he had left for seven years.And from there, normalcy was his goal.Little did he know that his life was about to change from there again once he’ll meet the one woman with the most unforgettable gray eyes at a small flower shop in Seoul.But... what happens if his past life and his now present life will collide and he has to choose between saving a life of one person he wasn’t willing to lose? Or saving the life of his reputation?Was he crazy enough to risk it all?
Kudos: 1





	Don’t Blame Me (a Kim Namjoon au story)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonsour, Kaila here! 😄
> 
> Welcome to my new au story which features my 3rd installment of Kim Namjoon himself 💜
> 
> This is actually the first story which I’m switching up the genres I’m usually not comfortable in writing with.  
> (See the tags in the story) 👁👁
> 
> I hope you guys will find this story interesting and somehow will like it altogether! 🥺
> 
> ***  
> FAQ’s:
> 
> Q: are you still going to continue the BTS folklore au series?  
> A: yes, yes I will. But I am currently not pressuring myself to release the next chapter. YET I AM STILL WRITING BIT BY BIT 🙂
> 
> Q: is this au going to be multiple chapters?  
> A: yes. But I don’t know how many chapters yet. I’m releasing chapters for DBM based on a whim because this whole au was based on a whim.
> 
> Q: what got you inspired for this au?  
> A: y’all need to watch the kdrama called “Vicenzo” 😂
> 
> Q: what made you write an action based au?  
> A: there’s no need to explain if I want to try writing something new right?
> 
> Q: are the other BTS members featured in the au?  
> A: ACTUALLY YES. YES THEY ARE. ALL OF THEM. 🥰
> 
> Q: don’t you ever get tired of writing about Namjoon?  
> A: NON. NO. I DON’T.
> 
> ***
> 
> Au revoir for now readers 👋

****  
 ** _Prologue_**  
 _Summer of 2021:_  
 _Seoul, South Korea_

 _BGM: Orbit (HWASA)_  
“Joon... N-Ne me cherche pas... D-Don’t come looking for me... U-Understand?”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
Hearing that one woman’s reassuring, soft voice from the other line made my whole nerves relax, even though she was trying her very best not to tremble in fear of whatever’s happening to her on the other side of this very call. I knew I had to keep my nerves intact as well, mostly for her sake as well.  
“K-Keira... m-mon amour, you know that I can’t promise you that, right?”  
“S-S'il-vous-plaît... I... I’ll be alright... if anything happens to you because of me...”  
My left hand clenched to a fist in frustration as I now could sense the pleading tone that shifted in Keira’s voice.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“F-Fuck mademoiselle, how could you even think about my safety instead of your own?”  
“Y-Your life is so precious monsieur... y-you deserve to know that. D-Don’t lose your way again, o-okay? J-Je t'aime beaucoup.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“K-Keira!”  
“Hmm... I guess that’s more than enough for last words from this woman, wouldn’t you think Attorney Namjoon Kim of the infamous _Heroux_ mafia family in France?”  
As the snickering male voice from the other line echoed my ears next, I just told him sternly,  
“If you harm even one strand of that woman’s hair, ne me reproche pas ce que je vais faire ensuite. **Don’t blame me** of what I’m capable of doing next.”  
“We’ll see who gets the last laugh then, attorney.”  
“M-Monsieur! D-Don’t...! T-This is all a tra—, m-mmm...!”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
As I could hear Keira’s loud grumbling due to a struggle, as if she was being silenced by having duct tape wrapped around her whole mouth, the last words that the voice just told me,  
“What will it be then, Attorney Kim? This woman’s life or betraying the _Heroux_ family? You have 24 hours to decide before we put a bullet through this woman’s head or better at it... we can always sell her to illegal bidders abroad.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
 _“M-Monsieur...!”_  
And as if a switch clicked within me, a grin just formed on my lips before I replied with a sarcastic laugh.  
“Espèce de connard. Watch me put a bullet through your forehead first before any of that happens you scumbag. Don’t say I didn’t say I didn’t warn you.”  
When the other line hanged up the call, I looked at the time that was being shown on the phone’s screen and made sure to remember it, imprint it properly inside the back of my head. It was exactly **9:12** in the evening.

That means I have exactly _24 hours from 9:12_ of tomorrow to find that one woman with the gray eyes. But... with the weight of saving her, I will have to turn my back against the very family that I sworn my loyalty to for all these years when nobody else picked me up after what happened to my real family.

 _*thump* *thump*_  
 _“There’s no absolute right or wrong in this world, Namjoon. There are no such things as bad or good decisions because making a bad decision doesn’t exactly make you a criminal and making the right decision doesn’t exactly make you a saint, son. Always remember that.”_  
“ _Caïd_... Pierre... if you were in my shoes, what would you do now?”  
Staring at the night sky that started letting raindrops pour down on cue, I just let out a long sigh and took out the small, golden circle necklace that had preserved **petals of forget-me-not’s** inside it.  
 _“Oui, I’ll hold onto and wear this necklace with me always from now on like a protective charm. T-Thank you my monsieur Joon...”_  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Damn. Why am I even asking myself such a stupid question? La réponse est simple.”  
Closing my eyes and letting the raindrops give me a peace of mind to think clearly while also recalling those gray eyes and smile that became **_my lighthouse in my never ending storms_** , I just gripped tightly onto the gold necklace in my hand telling myself,  
“24 hours is more than enough for me. Je te trouverai. I’ll find you Keira. No matter what’s going to happen, I’ll keep my promise to you and to _caïd_.”

After losing both of the families I had sworn to protect with everything I’ve had, I didn’t think a man like myself who strayed from the straight road and ended up choosing a road that was filled with one damn bump after another, would get the chance of meeting the one person I could see myself protecting for a long time, the one person who was my key to normalcy, got caught up in the loose, tainted threads of the life I had chosen before.

And I was to choose between her and the _Heroux_ family who kept me steady on my toes all these years.

Whether it was the wrong or right decision, I had to decide.

Decide whether the consequences of the choice I’ll make will leave me in regret or the other way around for the rest of this life. And the clock was ticking. Tick tock it goes like a damn time bomb without any way of stopping it.

But... giving up was never and will never be a part of my vocabulary. **Not now. Not ever.**

****  
 ** _Summer of 2020:_**  
 _Paris, France_  
 _Around late June_

 _BGM: Bicycle (CHUNGHA)_  
“Monsieur, are you sure about doing this?”  
“That’s an understatement, Clive. Fais-moi confiance. Trust me, this is going to hurt them more than it hurts me.”  
Stepping out of the car, I buttoned up my black suit and pushed back my black and gold framed glasses before I passed through the door of the worn-out, two storied apartment unit in a secluded street here in Paris while completely ignoring the fact that were lifeless bodies lying on the floor as I made my way up the wooden stairs.

As I reached the only closed door at the second floor, I knocked twice as a man’s voice then echoed saying,  
“Entre.”  
And on cue, my lips just smiled at the only magic word I needed to hear before I kicked open the door forcefully while my _Glock_ pistol was armed and loaded.  
“?!”  
“Y-You’re...!?”  
“Espèce de cul! Comment nous as-tu retrouvons?!”  
Grinning, I just told them as they stared at me with shocked, wide eyes and pointed my gun’s muzzle straight to their direction,  
“How did I even find you, you say? C'est stupide. There’s only one answer for your stupid question, you assholes.”  
And without even hesitating, I pulled the trigger three times. One bullet straight to the chest, through the forehead, and through the throat.  
 _*bang* *bang* *bang*_  
“...”  
With the bullets making a clanking sound as they fall to the floor, so did three other lifeless bodies. I watched their bloods flow to the floor altogether. This was a scene that was normal to me for almost seven years already. Keeping my silence, my eyes then drifted towards the open money bag on top of the table. And the money bag had an embroidered initial right on it. An initial that didn’t seem foreign to me and made my suspicions just as evident than they already were.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“ **V.T** huh?”  
“Monsieur Kim!”  
As Clive then stood by the door, panting from the running he just did and looked at the dead bodies lying on the floor, I just scoffed out a laugh and threw the money bag to him which he quickly caught in his arms.  
“Looks like these hooligans were counting their bounty before I disturbed their party just now, Clive.”  
“Monsieur... there are initials **V.T** on this bag? Y-You don’t think...”  
Taking the towelette he was holding out for me, I just wiped off the blood spots from my glasses and the more obvious ones on my suit before I replied with a smile,  
“Nous verrons. We’ll see Clive if those vultures had any involvement with what happened to _caïd_ and his family. Nevertheless, I won’t let anybody come interfering of me discovering the truth. Absolutely no one.”  
“O-Oui, monsieur.”  
Instructing him to quickly take care of the mess in the whole apartment, I placed back my gun in the holster around my waist before I walked down the stairs.

The rest of the henchmen—no, that sounds a bit off putting, the rest of the associates under the _Heroux_ family just looked at me in silence with slight nods as I passed by them and headed towards the car that was waiting outside of the apartment.  
“Où allons-nous ensuite? Where do we head next, monsieur Kim?”  
“To the _Heroux’s_ main home. Who knows... the **vultures** might already have sent their spy over there especially since _caïd’s_ last will is going to be revealed.”  
“Oui, monsieur Kim.”  
It’s been a few weeks since the accident that not only took the life of the head of the _Heroux_ family, my _caïd_ , my big boss, but also of his wife with his two sons and youngest daughter. The entire _Heroux_ family was gone in the snap of a finger. And it may seem like a simple car accident, but **nothing is ever an accident in this part of the life’s road I’ve chosen**.  
“Whatever it takes, I’ll find out who did this to you and your beloved family, _caïd_. And they’ll pay. They surely will.”  
Staring at the folded photo of us hidden inside my suit’s pocket, I just took out my laptop from the hidden compartment under the leather chair I’m sitting at the backseat and started connecting the dots of who that **V.T** initials could be. And there could be not only one person involved in this whole situation I needed a damn answer to.

And yes, the second I fit all the puzzle pieces together and my hunches are proved right, I will not hesitate to wipe them out from this life.

Getting blood on my hands is no longer an issue for me. But not knowing the truth was.

With that, nothing frustrated me more like shit.

I just didn’t know that the closer I get to the truth, **I’d be cut off from the very rope itself**.

***  
 _ **Summer of 2020:**  
French Riviera, France  
Around early August_

 _BGM: Love Spell (GFRIEND)_  
 _“Namjoon, go back. Go back to your own roots.”  
*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“To my own roots... what are you trying to tell me _caïd_?”  
My eyes focused on the plane ticket I grazed with my right hand while I was busy finishing in packing up my luggage. It’s been almost two months since what happened at that apartment back in Paris. It’s been almost two months too since I had read the last will of my big boss himself, the _caïd_ himself. The will that made me have very deep afterthoughts.  
 _“Namjoon, this specific part of the will is meant solely for you... and only for you and your eyes.”  
*thump* *thump*_  
“Fuck... merde. I haven’t even thought of going back to **Seoul, South Korea** ever again. But here I am. The things I do for you really, _caïd_.”  
Snapping out of my drifting thoughts, I just glanced at the familiar folded photo I placed on top of the small coffee table before closing my luggage and finally finished packing.  
“At least all five of you are together somewhere, even if that somewhere is very far away and I’ll never be able to see you again.”

After taking a quick shower, I changed into one of my many, specially tailored suits, put on my usual pair of black and gold framed glasses, fixed my tie, and put on my favorite silver watch that was my last gift from the _Heroux_ family, I grabbed my luggage and exited my hotel room.

“Monsieur _Charisme_ , what would you like to eat before you head to the airport? And was the hotel’s services to your liking?”  
“A cup of coffee would just be fine. S'il-vous-plaît. And yes, tout allait bien. I’m very much pleased with my stay.”  
“Oui, a cup of coffee then. Merci beaucoup for your patronage with us as always. The hotel is going to miss having you around, monsieur charisme. The _caïd_ must have left you some very important business abroad that you’re going to be out of the country most of the time now. You were and still are his most trusted right hand man and attorney too.”  
As the hotel’s manager just smiled at me politely before he disappeared to get that cup of coffee, his last sentence lingered a little bit more inside my head.  
 _“You were and still are his most trusted right hand man and attorney too.”  
*thump* *thump*_  
“Most trusted... but can’t even protect the people that got me to where I am now.”  
The irony struck me so deep that I could only snap out from my dimming thoughts when my phone’s ringing took over my hearing. Without even checking who it was, I just answered it on the second ring.  
“Bonsour. This is Attorney Kim speaking.”  
“Monsieur Kim! Finally you picked up...”  
There was no mistake in the familiarity of the voice from the other line.  
“Clive, mon garçon. I didn’t expect you’d call so soon and when I’m even about to leave France too...”  
“Je sais. Je sais, monsieur Kim. But this is very important, you see...!”  
And judging from the panicky tone coming from his voice, there was no way in hell he was making things up. After thanking the waiter as my coffee had arrived, I was sipping a bit of the hot drink from the cup and said,  
“D’accord. I know you wouldn’t call without an important reason in the first place, Clive. Now, dis-moi, tell me what’s wrong.”  
“Well monsieur Kim...”  
Right after I listened to what he had to tell me, I couldn’t stop myself from chuckling quietly as I placed down my half full, cup of coffee.  
“I see. Not even with _caïd_ and the whole _Heroux_ family now gone from the picture, the **vultures** don’t take a rest. I don’t know whether I should be impressed or otherwise.”  
“Monsieur Kim, just watch your back. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had sent someone to follow you even all the way to where you’re going soon.”  
I wouldn’t put it past that damn family to do something like that though.  
“Je le ferai. I’ll take care of this. And I’ll leave the rest to you while I’m no longer here in France, Clive.”  
“Understood, monsieur Kim. Soyez prudents.”  
Closing my eyes for a few seconds, I told him lastly before hanging up the call,  
“Merci. Thank you for everything Clive. Until we meet again.”  
 _*beep*_

“Monsieur _charisme_ , is there something I can do for you right now?”  
“Oui. Actually, yes. Yes, there is.”  
Already having a plan drawn up inside my head, I just smiled cunningly at the hotel manager who approached me on cue as I called for him while putting on a pair of synthetic gloves I was saving for emergency situations I have to take care of so abruptly.  
 _“Monsieur Kim... it looks like that you’re being followed by four associés from the family of vultures themselves. They are waiting for you outside of the hotel in a black sedan car right across the street.”_  
They want to play games? I’m surely in. And I’m in it to win it because losing will either lead me penniless or worse, six feet below the ground.

 _BGM: LOST ((G)I-DLE)_  
“Quand est-ce que ce salaud arrive?”  
“Didn’t the info that was given to us say that he’s heading for the airport in a few hours?”  
It really beats to be smarter than most people. Especially assholes who only knew to run their mouths but never their damn brains. Just like how the French say it, _ce n’est pas la vache qui crie le plus fort qui fait le plus de lait— **It’s not the cow that moos the loudest who gives the most milk**_.  
“Now that you mention it...”  
“Should we go looking for him inside the hotel then?”  
Stealthily loading the gun I grabbed from my holster, I only told them from the open passenger seat window of the black sedan car,  
“What’s the point of looking for someone who’s already here? Espèce d' imbéciles.”  
“The fuck?!”  
“H-How did you?!”  
Without waiting for another second, I pulled the trigger from my gun and quietly let four to eight bullets be enough to silence these four idiotic men who weren’t even smart enough to keep their car windows closed. Did they really think there’s only one exit door in the whole hotel?  
“Really...”  
Trying to stop myself from sighing, I was getting ready to unload my gun when then,  
 _*ring* *ring* *ring*_  
My phone started ringing on cue with an anonymous number appearing in the screen. With a sneer, there could only be a few people I can count with my fingers who’s calling me right now.  
“Your name might mean a **guardian angel** in the Roman Catholic ethics, but you’re exactly the complete opposite of what that name truly means, monsieur Gabriel.”  
The mocking laugh of that one man echoed my ears. A man who goes by the name of _Gabriel Vautour_. The eldest son of the _**Vautours**_. The very family that has shared a lot of bad blood history with the Heroux family. And the very family I suspect heavily that had something to do with _caïd_ and his family’s so-called accident.  
“As expected of the slick man who can get the judge to his side so easily and the monsieur _charisme_ of the _**Heroux**_ family. You’re not the late _caïd’s_ most trusted right hand man and attorney for damn show, huh?”  
“I’ll take that as a damn compliment in return, you parasite. Bye.”  
Immediately hanging up the call with a slight chuckle, I took out the phone’s SIM card and squashed it with my right foot. Unloading the remaining bullets in the gun, I then threw the gun and my holster to the trash bin along with the synthetic gloves I was wearing.  
“It’s going to take more than idiotic men in numbers to take me down, **vulture family**.”  
One important thing I’ve learned throughout these seven years, don’t ever leave traces of where you were and what you were doing. Obviously, I wasn’t stupid enough to just eliminate four men in a car while not wearing gloves to hold my gun that’ll have my fingerprints all over.  
“Hmph. I can’t believe these imbeciles would let me be late from my flight.”  
Checking the time on my watch, a luxury, silver sedan car finally came to pick me up.  
“Sorry for the late pickup, monsieur _charisme_. Did you deal with the situation already then?”  
Laughing a bit of what the driver had to say, I just told him,  
“Oui. I did already. Tell Clive to clean up the mess those vultures had left. Let’s go to the airport then.”  
“Yes, monsieur _charisme_. As you wish.”  
Taking a deep breath, I just let my eyes take in the last view of France I’ll be seeing before I leave. And I don’t know if this will be for a long time or not.

***  
 _A few hours later...  
During the flight:_

 _BGM: Live In Sunset (Luli Lee)_  
“Sir, care for some more red wine?”  
“Yes.”  
As the stewardess poured more wine into my wine glass, I could easily tell she was giving me a very alluring look with her eyes. But I was too tired of the events that transpired today to even mess around with a woman in a damn private jet.  
“You may leave.”  
“A-Ah, yes sir.”  
Looking at me with a slight disappointing gaze, I just hid a laugh to myself. Did she really think I was going to give her the high mile pleasure and experience that easily? I don’t think so. I have better things to do than to have sex in a plane bathroom and the like today.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
Especially if it involved holding the very letter that was the last letter I’d ever get from _caïd_ himself. From _**Pierre Heroux**_ himself.  
 _“I’ll leave everything in your hands now, Namjoon.”_

> _Namjoon, son._
> 
> _It’s an inevitable fact that by the time you’re reading this, I may no longer be a part of this world we live in._
> 
> _Writing my last will felt like a testament of the life I had lived through. A life that was unlike any other. A life beyond normalcy. But even if it was beyond normalcy, it was just as filled with happiness and heartbreak altogether._
> 
> _But... I wouldn’t trade anything that transpired within my life for any other. Especially these seven whole years you became a part of the family. Our family. Namjoon, I know I have sons of my own, but you... you were like the son I never had yet I was lucky enough to get a chance to know of. Son, you’ve done so much for us these seven years. And that’s more than enough already._
> 
> _Namjoon, it’s time for you to move on with your life. Even with or without us, go move forward soon._   
>  _Go back to your own roots. Go back to the country that was your homeland before you came to our lives. I know... even my wife knows as well... you’ll lose your way again if you don’t find someone or something that’ll keep you steady on the ground._   
>  _As a last favor for this old man, go. Go find someone that you’ll dedicate all of your protection and the rest of your life with. You’re young, cherish that son. Humans as we are, the time just continues to tick on along with the years easily passing by._
> 
> _And remember this Namjoon, don’t ever blame yourself for what’s going to happen to me or even the family. Understand? You’re not the same, regretful man those seven years ago who kept blaming himself for what happened to his own family in the past._
> 
> _I’m... I’m so fortunate enough to see you grow so much within these seven years you’ve been by our side. But now, it’s time for you to start a new chapter in your life. And I hope... it’s going to be a chapter filled with memorable normalcy. Because you deserve that son. You deserve to look back on a life that’ll be filled with no regrets._
> 
> _There’s nothing my wife and I, and even the whole family, would want more for you. Namjoon, your own happiness is what we wish for._
> 
> _This isn’t goodbye, son._   
>  _Take good care of yourself and stay safe._   
>  _Go and find more about yourself at the country I’ve had the privilege of seeing too for the shortest time back then._
> 
> _Live life in your own terms here on forth._   
>  _Just promise us that._   
>  _— Pierre_

_*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Caïd...”  
I could feel the trembling squeeze coming from my chest after I had finished reading his letter for me. The letter’s contents sounded just like him. And because of that, I let the tears slid down my face as I placed the letter down on the small table, along with the folded photo I always kept with me.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Pierre... _**Renée**_...”  
Before I knew it, I fell asleep. I fell asleep in tears. Something that hadn’t happened once within these _seven years_ until now.

***  
 ** _Seven years ago..._**  
 _Summer of 2013:_  
 _Paris, France_

 _BGM: Fairy Tale (Seori)_  
“I can’t believe I’m really in Paris itself... who would’ve thought...”  
It’s been a year. **It’s been a year already since the life I once knew as normal came tumbling down**. And here I was in France now. The very central capital of Paris too. I don’t know how I’m even coping and keeping myself sane, but just by seeing a glimpse of the _Eiffel Tower_ from right where I was standing, my problems seemed so minuscule.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“I wonder what awaits me now...”  
Shaking my head from any passive thoughts, I continued walking towards _The Louvre_. It’s been always a dream of mine to go to the museum where the famous _Mona Lisa_ could be seen and just to see the architectural frame of the whole museum itself was already a dream come true for an art fanatic like myself.  
“Hey... why are they here in broad daylight?”  
“I know. They’re literally only known to roam about during the night and in the secret alleyways of Paris where no normal person can feel safe at all.”  
There were a group of people whispering while passing by the entrance of the museum. Their gazes were glancing back and forth at the woman who had a very intense expression written all over her smiling face as if she was looking down at the three tall men in suits standing in front of her even when she completely lost to them in terms of height.  
“Just because you’re the _caïd’s_ wife, it doesn’t mean you can easily order us around.”  
“How about you call your husband and tell him to come out instead of letting his little wife do his job for him?”  
“Pierre is right. The rowdier the person, the louder they bark without stopping.”  
“What did you just say you bitch?”  
As the man standing in the middle pushed the woman down that she fell to her bottom straight on the ground, the other was getting ready to slap her on the face.  
“A-Ah,”  
“Tsk. Tsk. We didn’t want to resort to hitting a woman, especially not the _caïd’s_ wife.”  
“But look what you just made us do.”  
“Now, will you just call and let your dear husband know about please madam? S'il vous plaît?”  
The spectators could only continue to whisper to themselves but absolutely no one had the guts to help the woman out. Even in a country like France, nothing was different. It felt like I was still in Korea.  
“Why isn’t nobody willing to help her?”  
“Monsieur, you’re a tourist aren’t you? I wouldn’t dare coming up to those people if I were you.”  
“If you’re from around here, no one is stupid enough to meddle in the affairs of the _les beaux voyous_.”  
When I was about to approach the scene, a French couple understood what I was about to do just now and engaged in conversation with me that seemed more like a fair warning.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“ **Les beaux voyous**?”  
“It means _the goodfellas_ in English, monsieur. Those people over there are part of them. The gangs that rule the underworld here in France.”  
“They’re very dangerous people, monsieur. Locals like us are even confused now why they’re here in broad daylight. You’ll usually see them only during when twilight befalls here in France.”  
Very dangerous people huh? Dangerous people walking around freely in public places like these? For some odd reason, it triggered something at the back of my head.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
 _“The court now proclaims this case closed with the decision of the defendant being not guilty under three counts of personal injury. Court is now dismissed.”_  
“Even here in France, the guilty are free to walk around like this huh? I guess anywhere you go, it’s still the same.”  
“M-Monsieur...!”  
“W-What are you doing?!”  
Taking a deep breath in and out, I turned my back towards the couple and headed for the heat of the scene. **Just like I was a moth heading straight for the flame that can either make me feel alive or straight up lead me to my demise**.  
“Madame... are you okay?”  
“Y-You’re...”  
I then knelt on one knee at the woman who had a very piercing pair of _ocean blue eyes_. But the minute she and I looked at one another, her whole demeanor somehow relaxed for a bit.  
“Hmm, who are you punk?”  
“Are you related to this or what?!”  
“I’m just a bystander who wanted to help. And isn’t it a bit offending to be called a punk when you monsieurs look more of punks than I do any day?”  
“What did you say, you son of a bitch?”  
As one of the dubious looking men in suits then pulled out a pistol from the back of his pants’ pocket, he then pointed it straight to my face which immediately made the other spectators gasp in horror. Any normal person would be shaking in fear right here, right now but in my case... my composure was still intact. Because I’ve been through much worse than having a gun pointed at me.

“To think you imbeciles would even have the audacity to push down my wife and almost slap her just to get to me.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
A deep, echoing voice then entered the scene right on cue. A deep voice belonging to a tall man with _raven colored, black hair with a bit of gray hair lines_ mixed in it. His beard line was chiseled and clean-cut. Not to mention... he had the **most tenacious looking gray eyes** I’ve seen.  
“M-Mon chère...”  
“M-Madame, don’t tell me he’s...”  
Seeing how the woman with the ocean blue eyes smiled in relief at the sight of the man dressed in a dark blue suit who was coming our way, there could only be one logical answer to who he could be. He was no other than the woman’s husband. The man whom these three punks were calling, _caïd_.  
“Hmm... you not only dare to speak rudely to my wife but you’re also pointing your gun towards an unarmed civilian here in a public place? It’s a disgrace you call yourselves the good fellas, but instead it should be the _stupid fellas_.”  
Without even batting an eye, the gray eyed man took the gun that was pointing at me face on from the man’s hand in ease. Before I could even react, it was his turn to point the gun towards the three of them.  
“C-Caïd...”  
“W-We can explain...”  
“P-Please hear us out... t-this civilian was interfering just now so...”  
With a soft laugh, he just said while playfully pointing the gun’s muzzle straight to one of the three men’s chest.  
“If it weren’t for this unarmed man, you were going to do the same thing to my wife. And that’s already a big red flag to me. You disrespect my family, how do you expect me to respect you in return hmm?”  
“C-Caïd...”  
“N-Nous sommes désolés...”  
“P-Please forgive us...”  
And without hesitation, the man with gray eyes whipped all three men using the pistol he had in his hand that it resulted to the three falling straight to the ground, out cold.  
“...”  
“Ma chéri, are you okay?”  
“Oui, I am mon chère... and it’s all thanks too because of this monsieur.”  
Snapping out of my daze as I could feel both of them stare at me next, I shook my head and hands saying,  
“A-Ah, no... I barely did anything while your husband did everything.”  
“You’re such a humble kind of monsieur aren’t you?”  
“And you’re obviously not from around here. No one is crazy enough to do what you just did. Don’t worry, I just knocked those three imbeciles unconscious for now. I’ll deal with them later.”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
Okay... what did he mean by that just now? And how can he easily say that with a straight face? Immediately stopping myself from asking anything stupid, I just offered my hand towards the woman as I stood up back on my feet.  
“Madame, here. Can you stand up?”  
“Oui. Merci, monsieur. He’s such a gentleman, isn’t he mon chère?”  
After I helped up his wife, the man with gray eyes then faced me with a small, kind smile taking over his lips and asked me,  
“Yes. He sure is a diamond in the rough, ma chéri. What’s your name, son? You’re from _Korea_ , aren’t you?”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“H-How did you know I’m from Korea?”  
As he extended his right hand to me, he simply just said to my wide eyed, shocked expression,  
“Let’s just say my gut feelings are never wrong. Bonsour, my name is Pierre. Pierre _Heroux_.”

When he told me his name, that was the exact moment my life was going to change to a full _365 degree turn_. And I was in for the ride of my life for the years ahead.

***  
 ** _Summer of 2020:_**  
 _Incheon International Airport_  
 _Incheon, South Korea_

 _BGM: The Rain (LADIES’ CODE)_  
“What a nostalgic dream I must say...”  
After what seemed like a long 11 hours flight, it felt rather short especially with me dreaming about that day seven years ago. And here I finally was. **Here I was in South Korea again**.

As I was walking out of the arrivals section in the airport while dragging my luggage, my brown eyes then immediately spot the name card that had ‘ _Attorney Kim_ ’ written on it.  
“Oh, it looks like my welcome wagon really did come...”  
Walking up to the man with _cinnamon brown eyes and jet black hair_ , I then said,  
“Bonsour, _Min Yoongi-ssi_. Pleased to meet your acquaintance.”  
“And you must be Attorney Kim Namjoon from France. It’s a pleasure to meet you too. Shall we get going then?”  
Nodding, the man named Yoongi then escorted me to his car.

“My father and my hyung wanted to be the one to pick you up Attorney Kim, but the two of them are currently out of the country on business.”  
“No, it’s okay Yoongi-ssi. I don’t mind. And don’t be formal with me. You can just call me Namjoon. The _Mins_ have been a longtime acquaintance of the _Heroux_ family in the business too.”  
The man named Yoongi just chuckled a little bit as he was driving me to our destination. _Caïd_ and his great grandparents go way back. Although, this is the first time I’m meeting the second son, I’ve met his grandfather before already around three years ago.  
“I’ve heard about what happened to your boss and his family in France, Attorney Kim.”  
“Yes, it’s unfortunate what happened.”  
“Not to be impolite then... what brings the attorney and right hand man of the _Heroux_ family here at Seoul?”  
For some reason, I didn’t find it uncomfortable one bit to share what I was about to tell him next.  
“Let’s just say I’m here as a last favor and wish for my late boss and his family, monsieur Yoongi-ssi. And it’s just Namjoon-ssi.”  
“A-Ah, okay then Namjoon-ssi. R-Right, we’re almost there to your new place.”  
When the conversation then turned silent, I just stared at the view of Seoul after seven years. It still felt like the same city, and at the same time, it all felt too foreign. **It felt like I was a tourist now at the very country I was born at.**

_A little while later,_   
_Gangnam-gu, Seoul_

“What do you think about this place, Namjoon-ssi?”  
As Yoongi unlocked the door to the new place I’ll be staying at while I’m here at Seoul, I have to say... it really had a sense of home that I found comfort in. The monochromatic mix of _blue and grey_ of the walls and curtains. And even the mix of wooden and leather furniture were pleasant to my eyes.  
“Your family really outdid themselves with this place, Yoongi-ssi.”  
“Well... they knew that you preferred places where you can be alone instead of staying at a luxury hotel where there are a lot of people, Namjoon-ssi.”  
Looking out the glass windows of the living room where the sun was shining right through it, there was a breathtaking view of Seoul from it.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“I see. Do send my deepest gratitudes to your family for me, Yoongi-ssi.”

After looking around throughout the whole apartment, from the big bathroom, kitchen, a private study room / library, and the master’s bedroom, we went back to the living room as Yoongi then placed down a new smartphone on the coffee table along with a few documents.  
“A new phone?”  
“My father told me to prepare one for you, it has a new SIM card too. Since you’re back in Seoul after being away for years, I doubt you still use your old number. Especially too in your line of work... it’s not new for you to change contact info right?”  
It was my turn to let out a chuckle at his witty retort.  
“Well said then, Yoongi-ssi. Merci, I mean thank you. Then, what are these documents for?”  
“Ah right... they also informed me of your current situation too, Namjoon-ssi. My father and grandfather suggest you keep yourself low key while you’re here in Seoul.”  
My eyebrows couldn’t help but arch up in surprise of what he just said that I could only shake my head in disbelief before picking up the documents from the coffee table next.  
“Yoongi-ssi, I’m not here to cause any trouble. Trust me. That’s the least of my priorities and reasons on why I’m even here in the first place.”  
“Then Namjoon-ssi... what are you planning to do during your stay here? I doubt you even want to come here as a vacation when you came from Europe and all.”  
This man was sharp, I should say.  
“I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t have the slightest idea of what I plan to do here. I just wanted to honor _caïd’s_ last wish to come back to Seoul because he wants me have **normalcy** back in my life. That’s all. Nothing more or less.”  
“Normalcy?”  
“I know you’re not naive of any sort and you know the line of job I do, Yoongi-ssi. That’s why... I know too. I know normalcy is the uncanniest thing I want to find here.”  
After skimming through the documents that was left to him, Yoongi then asked me,  
“Normalcy huh... then, how about getting a job as a start Namjoon-ssi? Weren’t the papers you read just know were job offers to the big law firms here in Seoul?”  
Taking off my glasses, I just rubbed my eyes and replied,  
“I’m an attorney indeed Yoongi-ssi, but I graduated my law studies back in Europe. Not here in Korea, monsieur. If I wanted to practice law here, I need to take the special bar examinations the country conducts only for two days once a year. Once I pass and take oath, that’s the only time I can be hired as a lawyer whether as a legal prosecutor or under a private one.”  
“But my grandfather mentioned you have an academic or teaching credentials? How about being a law professor then?”  
I just stared at him, slightly awed of how and his family even had that kind of information about me. Well... little things like that don’t surprise me anymore.  
“A professor?”  
“Yeah. Weren’t you also a student back at _Seoul National University_ for a year before you transferred to France?”  
“Says the monsieur who’d graduated from _SNU_ as well? Weren’t you under the college of music? Am I right?”  
Feeling flustered of how I easily countered back his question, he just scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and said,  
“O-Okay, okay. You don’t need to go there and quickly switch the conversation about me, Namjoon-ssi. I’m not an idiot to mess with a lawyer like you.”  
“That’s reassuring to hear then, Yoongi-ssi. But I’ll think about it... about finding a job here in Seoul.”  
As if he then remembered something important, he took out his phone and told me,  
“Oh, wait... I know someone from the board of directors under _SNU’s_ hospital.”  
Now that doesn’t surprise me too for some reason.  
“Really?”  
“She’s the youngest director too for the hospital. Wait, I’ll try to contact her. Excuse me for now, Namjoon-ssi.”  
When he disappeared to the kitchen to call the person he had just mentioned now, I then scrolled through the new phone I had. My hands then froze from scrolling as I realized the date that flashed on the screen.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“R-Right... it’s the next day already here in Seoul. It’s officially been **eight years** now...”  
From that moment, there was only one other important thing I wanted to do before this day ends.  
“...”  
“Namjoon-ssi, let’s go to _SNU_ hospital. I’ll drive you there. My contact says she wants to meet you.”  
Putting back on my glasses, I stood up from the sofa and simply said,  
“Whatever you say then, Yoongi-ssi.”

**  
 _Seoul National University Hospital:_  
 _Seoul, South Korea_

 _BGM: July 7th (DREAMCATCHER)_  
“Hmm... well, your credentials speak for itself Attorney Kim Namjoon. Sadly, I’m only a director for the hospital but not the university. But, I know someone from the university’s board. I’ll see what I can do.”  
“I’d appreciate that as well, _Doctor Kolette_.”  
We were sitting in the hospital’s wide, open balcony garden. It turned out Yoongi’s contact was a _green eyed woman with red brown hair_ named Kolette. A British woman who came all the way to study here in Seoul and became the youngest neurosurgeon to earn a director seat in the leading hospital here in South Korea itself.  
“But I do can’t help but wonder why a lawyer of your caliber came back to Seoul when you graduated from one of the biggest law school in Europe?”  
I didn’t hesitate to reply back,  
“I could say the same about you, Doc Kolette. What’s someone from England doing all the way here in Seoul?”  
The curious doctor just laughed at my comeback question and said,  
“Touché. Judging from your accent, you stayed for a long time in France didn’t you?”  
“Yeah, I did. A lot of things happened and here I am now.”  
“Hmm... I see. Well, if I were a director of the university, I’d be a damn fool for not hiring you as a professor under the college of law, Attorney Kim.”  
“Doctor Kolette...”  
As soon as she heard her phone ringing, she stood up from where we were seating and the green eyed woman then stood in front of me and reached out her right hand to me saying,  
“Looks like I’m needed back at the emergency ward now if my phone is ringing nonstop like crazy. It was nice meeting you, Attorney Kim. I’ll be sure to keep my word and inform my contact at the university in a while.”  
Now it was my turn to be curious about how she and Yoongi know each other, but judging from how her phone wouldn’t stop ringing, I had to scratch off that question for now because she’s a very busy woman. Accepting her handshake, I replied,  
“The feeling is mutual, Doctor Kolette. You should get going now, it looks like you’re really needed back at the hospital.”  
Bowing slightly to each other, she told me lastly before leaving me alone by the hospital’s garden balcony,  
“Give Yoongi-ssi my regards as well, Attorney Kim. I’ll see you around and right, welcome to Seoul.”  
“I will.”

Before I knew it, a few hours later in the early afternoon, Kolette contacted me again to go straight to the university and to reach out to her contact. Damn, that is one woman I wouldn’t want to mess with. I should take a mental note of asking Yoongi about him and Kolette for another day.

Nevertheless, I didn’t know that the rest of my day was going to get more eventful than it already was.

***  
 _In a flower shop named ‘ **august** ’_  
 _Seoul, South Korea_

 _BGM: Rainbow (Rothy) / Galaxy (TAEYEON)_  
 _“Since Doc Kolette spoke so high of you, Attorney Kim, you’re now Professor Kim of SNU’s college of law faculty. And not to mention... how can we refuse you with these credentials of yours? We’d be honored to have you teach here at the university.”_  
After meeting Kolette, Yoongi drove me to _Seoul National University_ where I got to talk to one of the directors that the former knew and had mentioned about. And yes, I immediately got the job just like that. It still feels like so much happened within the span of these hours. It reminded me a bit of the time back in France, back when _caïd_ was alive and all. But now... was this the kind of normalcy he wanted me to have?

Before I took notice of it, the hours passed by indeed and it was already late in the afternoon. I had then asked Yoongi to drop me off near a place from the university where I could buy flowers and he dropped me off a flower shop called ‘ ** _august_**.’  
“Are you sure about leaving you here for today, Namjoon-ssi?”  
“Yes. There’s an important place I have to stopover at in a little while. Thank you for today, monsieur Yoongi-ssi.”  
“If you say so, I’ll head back then. Just contact me if you need to ask or know anything, Namjoon-ssi.”  
As I watched his car leave the street, I entered the flower shop. **A flower shop that somehow felt like a cozy place in the middle of the city of Seoul itself**. The place was very spacious even though the shop itself wasn’t that big of a place. The glass shelves were all arranged in one side with different classes of flowers in different colored vases. Everything was a sore for the eyes. And I mean that in a good way.

“What... what kind of flowers would even be enough to tell you sorry... sorry for not showing my face for eight years...”  
Unknowingly, I was speaking in French while looking over at all the flowers that were in front of me. Because... even though flowers weren’t enough to show how much I’ve missed out these past eight years I didn’t see them once, it may be a start.  
“Hmm... how about these **_forget-me-not’s_** then?”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
When I heard a soft, genial voice echo inside the flower shop, I had to turn around to look where the voice was coming from. And it came from a smiling woman with **_hazelnut brown hair_** standing from a short distance behind me. **_A woman with the most unforgettable kind of gray eyes_**. Not to mention...  
“Y-You can understand me just now?”  
She nodded and said before she placed the bouquet of flowers she was holding in her hands on the empty holders in front of me,  
“Since my birth certificate says I’m half- _Korean_ and half- _French_ , oui. I did understand you just now, monsieur.”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
Now it makes perfect sense on how she understood me speaking in French just now. I didn’t think I could see another pair of _gray eyes_ just like _caïd_ had, but I guess this is why they say that the world is indeed a small place.  
“I see.”  
“Sorry if I came a bit forward just now by speaking to you while you were looking at the flowers.”  
“No, it’s fine. Do you work alone here?”  
Okay, why did that question just sound a bit creepy now?  
“Oui. But actually... the more precise words would be, I own this flower shop monsieur?”  
“You don’t say?”  
Smiling happily, she then puts together a bouquet of small, _blue flowers_ together and handed it over to me saying,  
“You’re a new face around here, aren’t you monsieur? Judging by how you’re dressed effortlessly in that suit of yours, you’re not an ordinary man too?”  
Her meek curiosity somehow made me smile a little as I pushed back my glasses and replied while accepting the blue flower bouquet she made,  
“Well, guilty as charged mademoiselle. Are these flowers the _forget-me-not’s_ you mentioned?”  
“Oui. The scientific name of these flowers are called _myosotis_. They mean _hope, remembrance, true and undying love_ in the language of flowers, monsieur in a suit.”  
It was mind boggling how she even managed to pick out the kind of flowers that somehow were so simple, but had the perfect message I was trying to look for so hard.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Remembrance huh? How did you even know these are the kind of flowers I’m looking for?”  
“Hmm... let’s just say your _**deep brown eyes**_ had that sad, longing feelings that are being hid so well behind your glasses and your formal disposition.”  
At that exact point in time, _caïd’s_ words echoed at the back of my head on cue as my brown eyes found her gray ones.  
 _“You’ll know it at first glance, Namjoon. Just like how you didn’t pass a glance to reach out your hand to my wife all those years ago. You’ll encounter something life changing like that again.”_  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“You have a scarily, accurate way of putting together not only flowers, but also words too mademoiselle.”  
“So, what do you say monsieur in a suit, will you take the _forget-me-not’s_ or I can choose something else for you?”  
Glancing at the blue flowers that I was holding in my hands, a smile hadn’t left my face once ever since this mademoiselle with the gray eyes had spoke to me. Without hesitation, I said,  
“Bien sûr. Of course I’ll take it, mademoiselle gray eyes. Can I get another two bouquets too of the same kind?”  
“I’ll make a _pink bouquet and white bouquet_ then of the same flowers, monsieur.”  
As she was gently wrapping the flowers together, I couldn’t stop observing her. **How her gray eyes were almost smiling with little sparkles as if she was talking in silence to the flowers**. How she was delicately holding each flower strand. How her hazelnut brown hair was fluttering a bit coming from the breeze in her store’s window.  
“Oh! I think have some extra ribbons hidden somewhere around here.”  
“Mademoiselle, you don’t have to...”  
She started wandering around her shop in a hurry to find more ribbons to tie the bouquet together.  
“F-Finally, I found them mon—-?”  
“C-Careful there, watch your step mademoiselle.”  
When she was about to run back to the register and counter, the woman with gray eyes was this close to tripping on her other foot but being quick enough, I dropped the flowers and swiftly caught her fall by wrapping my left arm around her waist. We stared at one another in a few seconds of silence before she said,  
“M-Merci monsieur in a suit...”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
As she just gave me a sheepish smile, I immediately snapped back to reality and removed my arm around her waist as she managed to stand back up properly on her own two feet.  
“Y-You’re welcome. Be more careful next time.”  
And why am I suddenly feeling flustered because of what happened? Damn it. And why did I even move so fast just to catch her from her fall? Is it just my nerves getting to me or my jet lag?  
“And there... they’re all done. Sorry for the long wait.”  
No matter how many questions were popping up inside my head, all of them just vanished as she looks at me with a beaming smile on her face. Was I the only one who was overthinking what happened too like an idiot?  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“They’re beautiful, mademoiselle.”

After paying for the flowers, she then said to me,  
“I hope whoever’s going to receive those flowers is going to take good care of them, monsieur.”  
“I’ll make sure of it then, mademoiselle.”  
As I was about to head out of the flower shop and leave, there was still one thing that stopped me from leaving. One important thing that almost slipped my mind.  
 _“You’ll know it when you find it again, Namjoon.”_  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
 _Caïd_... can it really be possible? Can it really be possible to find someone again just like this? Is what I’m about to do on impulse? Is... is this what you’d been telling me about?  
“Hmm? Monsieur? Did you forget anything?”  
I don’t know if I was rational enough or not at the moment, but my curiosity was getting the best of me. Walking back to where the register was, where she still was, I extended my right hand out to her and said,  
“Mademoiselle, je m'appelle _Namjoon_. **_Kim Namjoon_**.”  
Expecting her to give me a baffled expression of why I even introduced myself to her out of the blue, she just giggled and accepted my right hand with her right one as well replying,  
“ _ **Keira**_. Je m’appelle Keira. Pleased to meet your acquaintance, monsieur Kim Namjoon-ssi.”

I never thought I could see and meet someone else who had resembled your gray eyes, _caïd_. Keira is her name. Mademoiselle Keira from Seoul.

**_Life surely works in the most mysterious shit and ways, doesn’t it?_ **

***  
 _Around the same time:_  
 _National Intelligence Service HQ_  
 _Seoul, South Korea_

 _BGM: Night Aviation (GWSN)_  
“Jeez... why isn’t there any decent case lately?”  
A man with _passionate brown eyes_ could only scratch his hair in frustration before he heard a beep coming from his computer.  
 _*beep* *beep* *beep*_  
“W-What the?!”  
As soon as he saw the message that then popped up in the computer’s screen, he took his tablet and immediately ran towards his boss’ office. The chief’s office.

“Yeah sure, I’ll take a look into it. Okay, bye.”  
Another man with _mysterious brown eyes_ could only put down his phone on the table with a sigh as he leaned back his head on the leather chair.  
“Haaa... another long day almost coming to an end... maybe I should get some _kimchi_ stew and _soju_ later?”  
Clapping in satisfaction of his sudden idea, more like craving, he flinched the moment a loud voice and bang then came echoing altogether through his office’s doors.  
“C-Chief...! W-We have an interesting case finally...!”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“H-Hey...! W-What did I say about barging in so freely through my door _lieutenant Jeon Jungkook-ssi?!_ ”  
The man named Jeon Jungkook just ignored what the chief had to say and placed the tablet on top of his boss’ table saying,  
“Take a look at this, sunbae!”  
“Hey...! You’re supposed to call me chief, you rascal!”  
“Then how about Kim Seokjin hyung?”  
“Hey! Do you want me to kick your little golden butt out of this office or what?!”  
Jungkook just laughed at the man who’s supposed to be his chief and boss named _Kim Seokjin_. The latter could only sigh before he took a look at what was flashing on the tablet’s screen that got his subordinate-junior all worked up.  
“Hmm? What’s this about a man named Kim Namjoon?”  
“H-He’s not just an ordinary man, sunbae! H-He’s a lawyer from France...!”  
Seokjin could only cross his arms in slight annoyance of what Jungkook then said that his eyebrows couldn’t help but twitch a bit.  
“And so? Don’t tell me you suddenly got attracted to a French lawyer you rascal?!”  
“J-Jeez! Y-You didn’t even read what kind of lawyer he is, sunbae...! Read here, darn it!”  
“D-Did you just cuss me now?!”  
Feeling annoyed as well, Jungkook just took the tablet and zoomed in on the screen and showed it straight to Seokjin’s face telling him,  
“Here! Read it sunbae!”  
Instantly understanding what he was trying to point out, Seokjin took the tablet and placed it back on top of the table while sighing a little bit longer this time around.  
“Haaaa... Jungkook-ah... really... so what if the man is a lawyer for a _French mafia family_? That’s not the NIS’ business.”  
“Jeez sunbae...! Don’t you see?! What’s a French lawyer like him doing all of a sudden here in Seoul?! Don’t you think it’s too fishy?”  
Seokjin just shook his head at his junior’s sudden passionate curiosity over a person of no interest whatsoever.  
“What’s fishy is you suddenly barging into my office as if there’s a national emergency when there isn’t, _pabo_! Haaaa... can you use your golden passion in finishing that case about the detained Chinese man who was illegally gambling to a group of minors a few days ago instead?”  
“But what about this French lawyer named Kim Namjoon, sunbae?!”  
Having enough with the conversation, Seokjin just shooed him away from the office as he was already near of getting a headache in the late afternoon because of his junior.  
“Not another word, Jungkook-ah. It’s been a long day already. Now if you’re going to keep pestering me about this French man or whatever, the door is right over there.”  
Jungkook could only hide his frustration as he took back his tablet and stomped out of the office and slammed the door saying lastly,  
“Hmph! Don’t come crying to me again when this man poses a national threat, sunbae—no, I mean, _Chief Kim_.”

“Haaaa... Jungkook’s imagination is just as passionate as he is.”  
Finally getting some peace and quiet after Jungkook had left the office, Seokjin just leaned back again on his chair’s head rest while looking outside of his window’s view which overlooked a view of Seoul itself.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Attorney Kim Namjoon huh?”  
 _“Jeez sunbae...! Don’t you see?! What’s a French lawyer like him doing all of a sudden here in Seoul?! Don’t you think it’s too fishy?”_  
Not being able to forget about the photo of the man Jungkook had showed to him just now, he then didn’t hesitate to grab his phone and dialed a number from his recent contacts.  
“Hey, I’m glad you picked up even in your busy schedule. Say, you wouldn’t happen to know of a lawyer named Kim Namjoon, would you? _Attorney Kim_?”

And with that sole question alone, the story was just beginning.

**  
 _Around sunset:  
At a private cemetery  
Seoul, South Korea_

 _BGM: Last One (DIA)  
*thump* *thump*_  
“How have you been, mother, father, dear dongsaeng?”  
Placing down each of the _forget-me-not bouquets_ on their gravestones, I sat down on the grass and tried my best to smile even though I could feel all the pain resurfacing.  
“I know no explanations nor even how many flowers I brought will be enough to make the three of you forgive me for not showing my face here for **eight years** already... until now.”  
The pain of losing the very first family I ever had came back to me once again. Just like that **_cruel summer of 2012_** which felt like an apocalypse.  
 _“W-Why?! W-Why them?! A-Am I supposed to be fine all alone now?!”_  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“A lot has happened within these years... especially during the _seven years_ I had stayed in France, mother, father, little sis of mine... but even in France, history still repeated itself... I... I couldn’t protect my second family just like what happened to the three of you...”  
Sometimes, I keep thinking that maybe fate wants me to be alone for the rest of my life. I wouldn’t even blame the universe for doing this to me after everything I’ve done within these seven years too.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“I... I met another family in France... a family that I swore I would protect with my life because I... I didn’t want what had happened to you will happen to them as they helped me stand back up on my own two, badly wounded feet... but... I guess life had other plans in the end. Look at where I am now...”  
Taking off my glasses, I just wiped the signs of dry tears forming around my eyes. I was always used to it by now too. I was used to the fact that crying by myself is what I always do when there are no witnesses who can ask me any prying questions.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“I’m... I’m sorry, mother, father, dongsaeng-ah... I’m sorry for only having the courage to come here after eight long years.”

As my teardrops fell to the _forget-me-not flowers_ , somehow that smiling, **gray eyed woman’s** face flashed through my line of thoughts.  
 _“Keira. Je m'appelle, Keira.”_  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Mother, father, sister... _caïd_ told me I’ll be able to find someone I’ll protect and cherish for the rest of this life again... but... but why am I getting this deep, gut feeling that... in order to protect her... I should keep my distance from her as much as possible?”

That was when it came to me as a realization. If I were to protect someone again, I... I should stay far away from that person. Even... even if it meant not being able to see those pair of gray eyes and smile directly my way again.

Yet the biggest question of them all... **_would I be capable of doing that?_**

***  
 _A week later..._  
 _Seoul National University_

 _BGM: ISLAND (YOUHA)_  
 _“Je m'appelle Namjoon. Kim Namjoon.”_  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Haaaa... why are you still thinking about that monsieur in a suit, Keira?”  
Sighing while whispering to myself altogether, I made my way towards the college of law’s building.  
“Okay, okay self... please stop thinking about that man... **that monsieur with the deep brown eyes and dimples**... ugh... damn it Keira...!”  
Cursing my inner thoughts, I just hurriedly ran up the stairs remembering the reason why I’m even here in the first place.  
“The college of law faculty room... ah, over there!”  
When I finally reached my destination, I slid the faculty room’s door open and peeked politely saying,  
“Is _Professor Jung Hoseok-ssi_ around?”  
“Ah! You’re finally here, Keira-ssi!”  
As soon as I was greeted by that _big, bright brown eyes and smile with the light, brown hair_ , I smiled in return while bowing slightly in politeness.  
“It’s nice to see you again, Keira-ssi.”  
“Hmm... don’t start with the coy remarks with me, Professor Jung. Here you go, these are my fresh batch of _yellow tulips_ from the shop.”  
“As always, they’re beautiful. But of course, not as you, Keira-ssi.”  
Rolling my eyes at his usual, joking around tone, I just handed over the bouquet to him and said,  
“If that’s all you’re going to say, I’ll be taking my leave now. I can’t leave the shop for too long.”  
“Jeez. You really should hire an assistant to help you out.”  
“ _Non_. No, thank you. I can handle everything by myself, for your information professor.”  
“Always the miss independent, aren’t we?”

After a few more passing conversations, he offered to escort me out of the university since I had to go back to the flower shop now.  
“My older sister who’s at the hospital right now is surely going to love these yellow tulips, Keira-ssi.”  
“Well... the yellow tulips mean _hope and good thoughts_ , Professor Jung. And it’s the perfect get-well soon gift too.”  
“As expected of the walking flower dictionary here in Seoul.”  
 _Professor Jung Hoseok_ is one of my regulars at the flower shop. He’s a part-time law professor here at the university while also being a part-time dance instructor/choreographer for one of Seoul’s biggest entertainment agencies, and yes he’s a lawyer of course. We were of the same age, so we became instant friends ever since he came to the shop half a year ago.  
“Oh please, I’m just a woman who loves flowers too much and wanted to do a business for it...”  
“There she goes being all humble again. Sheesh.”  
The two of just laughed heartily as he pretended to roll his eyes at me as payback for what I did to him at the faculty room. But then... I fell silent as if a cat took my tongue the very second I heard a _deep, familiar voice_ echo inside my hearing on cue.  
“Professor Kim, what’s the difference between ordinary self-defense from imperfect self-defense?”  
“Ordinary self-defense requires the defendant to meet both a subjective standard and an objective standard, but imperfect self-defense only requires the defendant to meet a subjective standard.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
There could only be one owner of that voice. My gaze then went straight to the lecture room to our left.  
“Does that mean those who are pleading under imperfect self-defense are those who are incapable of being objective while they defend themselves from a crime being committed?”  
“Okay, let’s say... when a defendant is charged with murder, the charge may be reduced to manslaughter on the basis of imperfect self-defense. The idea is that, while the defendant’s actions were unjustified, they did not have the malice element that is required to get a murder conviction which makes it subjective in nature. Does that give you better imagery?”  
“Yes! Thank you, Professor Kim!”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“I-It’s really him...”  
“Hmm? Keira-ssi? What’s wrong?”  
Completely forgetting the fact that Professor Jung was with me, I zoned out because I heard that man’s voice and saw him all over again after a week.  
“A-Ah... well... i-is he a new law professor, Professor Jung? I... I haven’t seen him around here until now?”  
“Oh, you mean _Professor Kim_? Yeah, he just started teaching here almost a week ago. He’s the newest addition to the faculty and as far as I heard... he was hired in a heartbeat!”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“What do you mean by that...?”  
“Let’s just say I heard over here and there that he’s not an ordinary man and lawyer, Keira-ssi... well technically he’s not a lawyer around here in Seoul... and he graduated from one of the biggest law school in Europe too.”  
Wow. Really? Judging from how good his French was and his French was mixed with such a swooning English accent... it’s starting to make sense now.  
“I-I see...”  
“Not to mention, after barely a week of teaching, the students and other professors can’t get enough of him. Especially the ladies...”  
As my eyes then went back to the **_tall, beautiful, and stunning monsieur in his gray suit and tie_** , with his _brown hair combed cleanly and pushed back_ , paired with those _black spectacles_ of his while he was **_holding so handsomely and seriously the notebook in his right hand_** , I can’t blame the students and lady professors one bit.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Professor Kim huh...?”

“Read in advance the topics about duress and necessity because we’ll discuss about that and their differences in the next lecture. D'accord? Understand?”  
“Yes, Professor Kim!”  
When the lecture was over, I said so nonchalantly to Professor Jung as I heard the female students whispering in between their soft giggles,  
“Professor Kim is so smart and sexy isn’t he?”  
“Ugh! I know! And he speaks fluent English and French too... oh my god... I wonder if he has a girlfriend?”  
“We really got lucky to have him take over our criminal law classes!”  
“Professor Jung, it looks like the university just scored home run by taking in Professor Kim, didn’t they?”  
“What are you suddenly blabbering about? Ah, now that the lecture is over, I’ll introduce you to him!”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
How did the conversation lead up to this?! Shit, can the ground just swallow me whole now?  
“N-No! P-Professor Jung, w-wait...!”  
“Professor Kim! Great job on your lecture right now!”  
Yet when I was about to stop him, it was already too late as his voice echoed the lecture room the moment he stepped inside and my eyes caught instantly those _deep, brown ones_. Fuck. Why... why me?

As I was about to fix up my things, I was surprised when a _familiar, cheery voice_ then entered the lecture room as soon as I wrapped up my last class for the day.  
“Professor Kim! Great job on your lecture right now!”  
But... the second my gaze instantly found **_those_** **_pair of gray eyes that hadn’t left my mind since last week_** , I almost felt myself freeze in place. I couldn’t bring myself to go back to her flower shop as my decision was to protect her by staying far away from her and this happens. Shit.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
Okay, keep your shit together Namjoon. Don’t be too obvious about it, you idiot. I’ve faced countless dangerous people during the past seven years that I didn’t bat an eye and kept my composure. But... why didn’t it feel like this because of one person?  
“Professor Jung, I didn’t expect to see you here.”  
“Ah right. Well, the two of us happened to stumble upon your lecture just now so...”  
“The two of you?”  
“Keira-ssi, come over here. Don’t you want me to introduce you to Professor Kim?”  
Professor Jung Hoseok then glanced back and signaled for the mademoiselle to come over to where we were standing. Even if she was just standing there in her _above the knee length, egg white, cotton, sleeveless dress with the yellow and dark blue flowers splattered all over her dress paired with those white wedge heels of hers_ , **I couldn’t stop myself from looking at her solely.** Yet... nothing bothered me more than the fact that she and Professor Jung actually knew each other?  
“...”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
When she finally walked up to where we were as we just kept on staring at each other clumsily, my colleague then didn’t hesitate to introduce the woman standing in front of me as if this was the first time I was meeting her. Of course it wasn’t that case at all.  
“Professor Kim, this is Keira-ssi. A friend of mine who owns a flower shop near here. She’s half-French by the way.”  
“O-Okay Professor Jung, that’s enough. I-I’m sorry about him, monsieur Namjoon-ssi.”  
“ _Non_. It’s fine really, mademoiselle Keira. You don’t have to apologize about it.”  
Professor Jung then glanced at us with his eyes turning wide.  
“W-What?! Y-You two actually know each other?”  
“Y-Yeah.”  
“Yes.”  
His gaze then turned suspicious as he said to Keira,  
“Hmm... you could’ve told me you actually knew him, Keira-ssi.”  
“You didn’t give me the chance to...! Jeez!”  
Judging from the way they were talking to each other, he didn’t make things up. They were indeed acquainted together, friends as he had just mentioned. Okay... why am I getting a slight upset stomach just thinking about it? No. No, don’t even go there Namjoon.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“What brings you here at the university, Keira-ssi?”  
“U-Um well about that...”  
“Ah, she came over to give me these.”  
Now it was my turn to feel a bit taken aback by what I just heard and what I then saw with my own two eyes. Professor Jung then held happily the _bouquet of yellow flowers_ in his hands. And those flowers could only be from one woman herself.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“F-Flowers?”  
“Yeah, I got these from Keira-ssi herself.”  
“W-Wait! I-It’s not what you think, monsieur! J-Jeez! J’en ai assez...!”  
Before Professor Jung and I knew it, Keira just slightly bowed to us while avoiding our gazes before she immediately fled out of the lecture room.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
“H-Hey! K-Keira-ssi...!”  
But the very moment Professor Jung was about to run after her, I grabbed him by the right arm and shook my head telling him,  
“ _Non_. I’ll go after her myself, Professor Jung.”  
“Professor Kim...”  
“I’ll excuse myself then.”  
Without even waiting for his response, I excused myself and ran after that one woman who suddenly disappeared from my sight. And for some reason... **that worried me**.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“M-Mademoiselle...”

 _“F-Flowers?”_  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“J-Jeez! That Professor Jung really and his big mouth...! H-How can he let monsieur misunderstand... u-ugh...”  
As I ran out of the lecture room and headed straight down the stairs to run directly towards the university’s exit gates, I was on cue put to a pause the minute rain started pouring down that I had to stop running while standing right outside of the college of law’s building.  
“E-Even the weather is against me too today...”  
That was so unlike of me to exit so abruptly just now. And it was all because I didn’t want the monsieur with _deep brown eyes_ that I haven’t seen in over a week to misunderstand the reason why Professor Jung had those flowers.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Haaaaa... Keira really... what are you doing _pabo_...”  
I just fell to my knees and wrapped my arms around them as I watched the raindrops fall to the ground and let the summer rain comfort me and my somber self.  
 _“And he speaks fluent English and French too... oh my god... I wonder if he has a girlfriend?”_  
“A monsieur like him is way off of your league dear self of mine...”  
As I was busy trying to appease my own self-esteem, my gray eyes then started trembling at the voice that then echoed along with the sounds of raindrops.  
“M-Mademoiselle Keira... T-Tu es là... h-here you are.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“...”

When I finally reached outside the college of law’s building, there she was. There the very silhouette I was looking for. She was watching the rain while squatting down on her knees while hugging them around her arms. **And at that very moment, relief flooded me from head to toe**.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“M-Mademoiselle Keira... T-Tu es là... h-here you are.”  
Her body jumped at the sound of my voice although she didn’t glance back to look at me as she simply said,  
“D-Désolé... sorry for walking out like that just now, monsieur.”  
“No, it’s fine. A-Are you okay?”  
“Oui. I’m fine... i-it’s just...”  
As I then walked up to her side, I heard Keira make a slight groaning side before she looked up at me with a flustered face saying,  
“A-As frustrating as it is... I... I didn’t want you to misunderstand what happened just now, monsieur.”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“M-Misunderstand what exactly?”  
Looking away from my gaze, she stared at the raindrops pouring from the sky and told me with her face suddenly blushing so obviously,  
“T-Those _yellow tulips_ were meant for Professor Jung’s older sister monsieur Namjoon-ssi. I... I know I shouldn’t be explaining myself to you but... I... I didn’t want you to get the wrong ideas between him and I.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
 _“I didn’t want you to get the wrong ideas between him and I.”_  
 _Caïd_... how am I supposed to keep convincing myself that I should stay away from the one woman whom I want to protect just like you had told me I’d find at first glance?  
“M-Mademoiselle Keira...”  
“Haaaa... t-that was so embarrassing...! I-I’m not a lunatic, okay monsieur? I... I’m completely acting out of myself lately. J-Jeez... I really should get back to the shop already.”  
Taking in a deep, silent breath to myself, no line of rational thoughts were enough to stop me from what I’m going to do next.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Mademoiselle, I’ll escort you back to your flower shop. Will that be okay with you?”  
As I then stood right beside her and offered my right hand to her, **my right hand that had been tainted with blood and the like because of my life for the past seven years** , I needed a clear and sure answer of whether she’s really the person that’ll bring me closer to the **_normalcy_** I’m hoping to reach, _caïd_.  
“A-As long as you have an umbrella with you monsieur...”  
 **And just like a saving grace, instead of a gun I held in my right hand, it was her warm hand that landed in my palm**.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
And just like that too, I knew it was futile. It was futile to find myself staying away from this _gray eyed woman named Keira_.

I just didn’t realize that by doing what I’d done, it would lead to my undoing. But the story was only starting.

**  
 _On the way to the flower shop:_

 _BGM: Sunflower (Girls’ Generation)_  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
Am I dreaming right now? Is this real life? Am... am I really walking in the rain... under an umbrella with one monsieur himself?!  
“I-It’s a light drizzle isn’t it, monsieur?”  
“Yes, it sure is. Back in France, it lightly rains like this during summertime too. It’s kind of nostalgic.”  
As I looked at Namjoon’s side profile standing right beside me while holding the black umbrella in his right hand, I could feel all the blood rush straight to my cheeks again at the recall of his right hand’s warmth.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
Shut up heart of mine! I-It’s already hard to breathe properly when we’re standing so close to each other and I could get a whiff of his **_clean, woody, and musky scent_** from beside me.  
 _*hiccuping sounds*_  
“?!”  
“...”  
Because of my nerves, Namjoon then stared at me in silence while taking a pause from us walking as soon as I started hiccuping. Could this day get any more embarrassing than it already was going?!

“M-Mademoiselle...?”  
“N-No... I-I’m fine...! I... I don’t even know why I’m having the hiccups too right now... u-ugh...”  
As we stopped walking because Keira started making hiccup sounds that echoed along with the rain, it was really difficult to hold back my chuckle at her very perplexed expressions.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Comme c'est adorable.”  
“M-Monsieur... d-did you just say...?”  
When she looked up at me with those _innocent gray eyes of hers_ , I had to pull myself together again as I evaded her gaze and tried to change the conversation fast.  
“M-Mademoiselle, will you hold the umbrella for me? Just for a few seconds.”  
“A-Ah, oui.”  
When Keira then tried her best to hold my umbrella with her two hands as high as she can just to cover the blatant difference of my height with hers in between her hiccups, I took off my suit’s coat and wrapped it around her shoulders.  
“M-Monsieur...”  
“You’re going to get a cold even in summer if you’re only wearing a pretty, sleeveless summer dress like that in the rain.”

 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
When Namjoon wrapped his suit’s coat around my shoulders, instead of going into panic, I somehow relaxed and calmed down... not just because of his gesture, but as soon as his _clean, woody scent_ tickled my nose, I felt at ease. And even... even my hiccups stopped like a magic spell.  
“M-Merci...”  
“We’re close to your shop, let’s get going.”  
I could only nod in shyness as he gently took back his umbrella from my hands before we went on our way. _First it was the warmth of his right hand, and now... it was the warmth from his own body’s warmth that was evident from his suit’s coat_.

“Merci for walking me to the shop and for your coat. I’ll have it dry cleaned by tomorrow, monsieur.”  
“ _Non_. I don’t mind. It’s not a big of a deal, mademoiselle.”  
As we stood outside of the flower shop, Keira looked up at me and insisted as she then took off my coat around her shoulders,  
“ _Non_. I can’t have monsieur in a suit have a missing coat... especially when he’s in monsieur professor mode back there. And... this suit feels like it costs a fortune so don’t worry, I’ll make sure it gets cleaned.”  
“Really... since you’re going to be so stubborn about it, fine. You’re a savvy businesswoman, I should say.”  
Keira just chuckled softly before she unlocked the front door to her flower shop as I continued to hold up the umbrella so she doesn’t get wet.  
“Well, this is me monsieur. Thank you again. I’ll come by the university to return your suit’s coat once I get it cleaned up.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“?!”  
My whole line of thoughts froze the second Keira tiptoed on her heels and gave me a quick kiss on my right cheek in surprise.  
“K-Keira-ssi...”  
“B-Bye Professor Kim...!”  
Before I could even react properly, she entered through the door in a hurry and closed it in a snap while letting down the door’s blinds that I couldn’t see a single thing now.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“C-Cette femme vraiment...”

In the past seven years, I didn’t easily let my guard down like this until this very moment under the rain and when I was holding an umbrella, I lost so easily. **_I lost to an unpredictable gray eyed woman_** that I could only scoff a laugh out in disbelief.  
“ _Caïd_... _Renée_... this is one dangerous woman... she can certainly leave me unguarded when you told me I always have my guard up, no matter what.”

What am I going to do now?

***  
 _Meanwhile, around the same time:_  
 _National Intelligence Service HQ_  
 _Seoul, South Korea_

 _BGM: Black (BoA)_  
“Ho... so he’s really back in Korea again...”  
“Again? Don’t tell you two know each other, Attorney Kim?”  
A man with _enigmatic, brown eyes and brushed up, black hair_ just grinned at Seokjin after hearing the intel he just got from the chief himself.  
“Let’s just say... he was someone I used to look up to all those years ago, NIS Chief Kim Seokjin.”  
“Your smirk tells me otherwise, Attorney Kim. You’re always full of mystery yourself.”  
“Well, a lawyer of his stature suddenly coming here to Seoul isn’t a national threat. But... I guess there’s no harm in double checking right, Jin hyung?”  
With a sigh, Seokjin just patted another junior he was well acquainted with and told him,  
“Thanks, Taehyung-ah. I know you’re busy and all too ever since you became the senior lawyer of the firm.”  
“I’m just as curious as you are to be honest, hyung. I’ll contact you again. I have to go to the courthouse now.”  
“Here, I’ll walk you out.”  
When Seokjin was about to walk the man named Kim Taehyung out of his office, the two men could only blink in surprise the second another voice entered through the door with a loud voice going,  
“S-Sunbae...! T-There’s a new lead about h—?!”  
“H-Hey...!”  
“Oh... so you must be the one who discovered the French lawyer who came. You have such competent juniors I must say, Chief Kim.”  
Before his boss was about to tell him off for suddenly barging in unannounced again, Taehyung just smiled and placed his hand on Jungkook’s right shoulder before leaving through the door.  
“Thanks for the time, Jin hyung. I’ll be off now. I’ll be excusing myself as well, lieutenant Jeon Jungkook-ssi.”  
As the two men watched Taehyung leave and close the door, Jungkook on cue asked with an awed expression,  
“S-Sunbae... w-wasn’t that who I think it was?!”  
“H-Hey...! You should be apologizing to me right now though!”  
Ignoring what Seokjin had to say, he followed up asked,  
“W-What was one of the best lawyers in Seoul doing in your office, sunbae?!”  
“Haaa... I give up. You’re not even listening to me now...”  
With a tired sigh, Seokjin just walked back to his chair and sat down before he told Jungkook,  
“ _Attorney Kim Taehyung_ is going to look into more info about that French lawyer you brought up about, Jungkook-ssi.”  
Jungkook’s eyes turned wide again.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“R-Really?! B-But why? Isn’t he like the **busiest attorney at the moment** since he’s the youngest senior lawyer too that took over one of the biggest law firms here in Seoul?”  
“My sentiments exactly. But... judging from the way his always _mysterious brown eyes_ were somehow piqued by the very idea of knowing the reason why that lawyer named Kim Namjoon came to Korea... this is going to be a very interesting situation, I should say.”  
“More like I can’t even believe that you actually let someone great like Attorney Kim call you, Jin hyung without even batting an eye.”  
With his eyebrows twitching at the always cheeky remark from his beloved junior, Seokjin raised his voice one more time saying,  
“Hey...! A-Are you here to pester me or tell me the real reason why you suddenly came to my office again without knocking?!”

As Jungkook then placed down his tablet on the table, Seokjin looked at him in doubt of what he had just showed him on the screen.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“A-Are you sure about this information, lieutenant Jeon Jungkook?”  
“Yeah, I absolutely am, Chief Kim.”

The two men just exchanged stares filled with uneasiness. Uneasiness to where the information they got is going to lead them at.

***  
 _A few days later...  
Keira’s flower shop:  
Seoul, South Korea_

 _BGM: Masquerade (WJSN)_  
“Haaaa... should I give this back to him today?”  
Sighing as I stared at the blue paper bag that had a _dry cleaned, gray suit’s coat_ which belonged to one monsieur himself, I blushed again at what I had done a few days ago.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“S-Shit... w-why did you even do that Keira you _pabo_?! H-How am I supposed to face him normally right after that?”  
While I was busy grumbling to myself for the thousandth time, I had to sweep away any thoughts about that man the second a customer entered the shop.  
“Welcome!”  
Approaching the customer, he had _light brown hair paired with such fond-looking, brown eyes_. And it was obvious from the textbooks he was carrying and the backpack he was wearing, he was no doubt a university student.  
“Are there any flowers in particular you’re looking for?”  
“Ah... I just wanted to look around, flower shop noona. My friends told me about how this place had the prettiest flowers, and I wanted to see them for myself.”  
That’s rare. A young man with such an angelic smile being interested in flowers? These past weeks have surely been eventful.  
 _“Mademoiselle Keira?”  
*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
“Flower shop noona?”  
Snap out of it Keira! Why are you even thinking about that man while you’re on the job?!  
“A-Ah, sorry! I got distracted in my own thoughts just now. And don’t call me so formally... call me Keira.”  
“Okay then, Keira noona...”  
“Noona really...?”  
The young man just nodded innocently before his lips formed to a smile again and said,  
“Right... I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Jimin. _Park Jimin_. I’m from the college of law at _SNU_.”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“O-Oh...! I knew it, you’re a student from _SNU_ then. That’s good to know.”  
The two of us continued to chat along as I showed him the other flowers inside my shop.

_A bit later...  
Seoul National University_

“Why did you say you’re coming with me to the college of law building again, Keira noona?”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
After our meeting at the flower shop, I found myself tagging along with Jimin so I can finally give back the one thing that’s been weighing on me ever since that day, to that one man himself.  
“A-Ah right, I’m just going to return something I borrowed from someone.”  
“Someone? Someone from the same college as I am then?”  
Okay. Shut up already Keira. Please.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“T-That’s a secret, Jimin-ssi. And don’t you have a class to go to?”  
Looking at the time in his phone’s screen, his eyes turned wide on cue as he then sprinted up the stairs as soon as we got to the college of law’s building.  
“S-Shoot, I’m going to be late at this rate. Bye then Keira noona...! It was nice meeting you!”  
“Same, Jimin-ssi. Study hard!”  
I can finally sigh with ease as I was finally left alone. Now... should I still go on with giving this to Namjoon? I can always come back next time, right?

“Haaa... what am I even doing? I really should give this back to him... he might need it already.”  
However, the second I had decided to go up the stairs and head to the faculty room, my heart’s beating echoed with a bang the second I heard hurrying footsteps coming near me and then... **I was grabbed by someone from behind**.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“?!”  
“Sssh. Let’s go hide there.”  
It didn’t even take 10 seconds for me to realize who the _deep, but mellow voice_ belonged to. And not to mention... the _woody and clean scent_ that smelled so close plus the warmth of his right hand that was covering me on the mouth.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
“...”  
As he then brought me to hide underneath the first floor’s staircase, the two of us just continued to stare at each other in silence as the approaching footsteps turned louder and voices started echoing.  
“Hmm... I swore I saw Professor Kim’s silhouette pass by here?”  
“Are you sure? There isn’t anybody here though?”  
“Weird... oh well. I guess we can convince Professor Jung to ask more juicy info about Professor Kim. Especially his likes and the type of girls he likes.”  
It was so hard to keep myself from laughing at what I had heard but my heart was about to stop again the second Namjoon gazed at me with those _**serious, deep brown eyes**_ of his while not removing his hand that was still covering my mouth.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
“...”  
When the coast was finally clear, I jokingly said in a whisper,  
“It must be hard being so popular, isn’t it Professor Kim?”

Really. I was used to chasing rather than hiding. As I was trying to avoid getting questioned ( **very** ) personally by a bunch of women I didn’t want to be acquainted with, most especially students, I went running back to the college of law’s building but then a familiar looking silhouette with _hazelnut brown hair_ left me lost for words and stopping on my tracks.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“I-It can’t be...”  
“I wonder which way did Professor Kim go?”  
Shit. Why are a group of overly curious young girls here in Korea are better at finding people than the actual men working for the _Heroux_ family back in France? It’s somewhat scaring me a little.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“L-Looks like I have no choice...”  
With no other plausible options left, I had to find somewhere to hide for now. And I had to take that one woman with me altogether.  
“...?!”  
“Let’s go over there.”  
Sneaking up from behind her, I gently wrapped my arms around her waist using my left arm while covering her mouth with my right hand. She didn’t show any signs of struggle as I whispered to her and she followed along. We then hid under the first floor’s staircase.  
“...”  
“...”  
And judging by the way she looked at me straightly into my brown eyes with her gray eyes, she knew. **Keira knew it was me all along as we just stared eye-to-eye at each other in the silence**.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
Right after the footsteps and voices reached the first floor of the building, I could tell that Keira tried her hardest not to laugh at what the girls had said. Damn it. It’s already so darn hard to keep my calm when I can feel her sitting so close to me and her _**scent that was a mix of floral with sparkling fruity tones**_ made me a bit dizzy. Dizzy not in a bad way.  
“...”  
“...”  
We waited until there were no signs of the female students on the first floor anymore before we both could finally be able to let out a breath of relief. Most especially me. Keira then whispered to me jokingly on cue,  
“It must be hard being so popular, isn’t it Professor Kim?”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
That smile really. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling as well and replied,  
“Don’t even go there, mademoiselle.”  
Realizing we were sitting so close to each other, I quickly stood up and reached out my right hand to her saying,  
“Here. Désolé. Sorry for dragging you to my own problems, Keira-ssi.”  
“ _N-Non_... it was kind of exciting even though it was also nerve wrecking. But...”  
“But?”  
As Keira accepted my right hand and let’s me help her stand back up, she just said so simply with a shy smile,  
“I knew it was you, monsieur. Just by your _deep voice and the woody scent_ of your perfume. Even if it was nerve wrecking... I was able to calm down just by recognizing it was you.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“K-Keira-ssi...”  
The way she keeps appearing so circumstantially every single time ever since I stepped into that flower shop... it’s undeniable anymore, _caïd_.  
“Qu'est-ce que tu me fais, mademoiselle Keira-ssi?”

 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
I could only drop the blue paper bag I was supposed to return to the monsieur standing in front of me the minute he starts stroking my flushed up cheeks with his long fingertips, and my whole nerves just stopped functioning properly. _But that didn’t even come close to the feeling I got when a warm presence landed on top of my lips_.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“M-Monsieur...”  
“I-In return for what you did a few days ago. Don’t think I forgot about it, mademoiselle.”  
Am I still dreaming? Is this all a dream? Did... did I just get a kiss from the monsieur named Kim Namjoon?! _**The man with the deep brown eyes and the dimples and the professor that everyone is chasing after**_?  
“Y-You...”  
“I believe this paper bag is meant for me then? Guess I know now why you’re here...”  
Still feeling the lingering warmth on my lips, I snatched the paper bag and took out his suit’s coat and gave it to him before bowing slightly and running off.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“O-Okay, I returned your coat already s-so there’s no reason for me to stay here any longer... I-I’m heading back!”  
“W-Wait...! K-Keira-ssi...!”

“Oh! There you are, Professor Kim! The students have been looking everywhere for you!”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
Damn it. Just when I was about to chase after Keira, Professor Jung pops up into the scene so perfectly. Sternly, I just told him,  
“I was busy.”  
“O-Okay then... did I disturb something just now? It felt like you were talking to someone too?”  
With a sigh, I just pushed back my glasses and said,  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Haaa... merde. Why did I even kiss her just now?”  
My colleague’s loud voice then echoed in my ears on cue going,  
“Y-You what?!”

I then knew. **_I then knew that once I got to know Keira’s warmth and her lips, there was no rational cell left within me that could stay away from her_**.

Not even with the looming dangers that may and will befall her and I in the process. Most especially her.

***  
 _A few days later:  
Keira’s flower shop_

 _BGM: Wildfire (TAEYEON)_  
 _“I-In return for what you did a few days ago. Don’t think I forgot about it, mademoiselle.”  
*thump* *thump*_  
“A-Ah! D-Darn it...!”  
“K-Keira noona?!”  
It’s been a few days since that day at the university. It’s been a few days and I haven’t slept properly because of that monsieur and what he did... which resulted me to unknowingly cut by accident the stem of _pink rose_ I was holding in my hands.  
“N-No... n-no... I’m so sorry pretty pink rose-ssi...”  
“For you to accidentally cut that poor pink rose’s stem while cursing... should it even be proper if I ask you if you’re okay, noona?”  
Putting down the flower stem and my scissors, I just groaned in frustration while placing both of my hands on my face saying,  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“I... I feel like I’m going crazy with each passing day...”  
“You’ve been acting weird since that day you tagged along to come with me to the university Keira noona. I guess something happened?”  
As much as I appreciate the boy named Jimin coming by from time to time just to help me out and know more about the flowers in my shop, he really likes asking a lot of questions.  
“J-Jeez... I don’t want to talk about it Jimin-ssi... i-it’s making me queasy just by remembering...”  
 _“K-Keira-ssi...!”  
*thump* *thump*_  
Ever since that kiss, Namjoon didn’t show himself once here in my shop. Haaaa... I know French people treat kisses as some sort of passing greetings and the like but... to me... **that one kiss from him made my feelings for him even more evident when I’m trying my hardest to not fall for him**.  
“Ahhhh...! I-I’ve had it...! H-He’s so frustrating...! B-But he’s so handsome altogether...!”  
“I’m going to get going before you go any crazier than you’re already being, noona.”  
“H-Hey...! T-This isn’t funny, Jimin-ssi!”  
Laughing at my weird reaction, Jimin just told me with a suspicious grin,  
“You’re being so obvious that you got kissed by someone you really like, huh Keira noona?”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“H-How—-, w-what did you just say?!”  
Yet I was too late to interrogate him of his last sentence as he then swiftly fled out of my flower shop with a victorious grin.  
“Bye Keira noona...! Don’t fret about a kiss too much...!”  
“P-Park Jimin-ssi you...!”

“E-Even my flowers are suffering now because of me... I’m so sorry my loves...”  
As I was busy trying to appease myself in self pity, I heard the shop’s bell ring again as someone’s footsteps echoed on cue.  
“Jimin-ssi, I swear if you’re here to tease me again...”  
“Keira-ssi.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“?!”  
My heartbeat went erratic the second that _deep, mellow voice_ mentioning my name echoed throughout the walls of my whole flower shop. I didn’t even need to turn around and glance back at him to know who it was.  
“C-Can I help you monsieur? I believe we have no business with one another anymore...”  
“Keira, look at me mademoiselle. S'il-vous-plaît.”  
D-Did I hear that just right? Because of the sudden drop in honorifics, I glanced back at him without doubt. And there he was. _**There was the monsieur with deep brown eyes dressed so sleekly in his black, business suit with the black & gold spectacles**_. Shit. Why did he have to look more handsome every time we see each other? God, why are you so unfair?  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
“Keira...”  
“W-Why are you here, monsieur?”  
That was the only question I could bring myself to ask out of all the piled up questions I’ve had since that day while standing up from my crouching position.  
“I’m sorry.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
 **And those two words were more than enough to make my heart crack**. Just like the flower stem of the rose I had unintentionally cut.  
“I... I don’t want you to say sorry for kissing me, Namjoon-ssi. I-If that’s all you have to say, the door is right there, monsieur. I... I have a shop to run. So, if you’ll excu—?!”  
When I was about to turn my back at him, my line of thoughts immediately paused in pure shock the minute a warm hand grabbed me by my right arm and made me face his tall figure while effortlessly pulling me closer to him that as soon as I could feel his breathing coming nearer, his other arm entrapped me around my waist. _**His deep... deep brown eyes looked at me so handsomely that it was futile to stare away**_.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“M-Monsieur... w-what are you d—-?! M-Mmm...!”  
Without even letting me finish my last syllable, he pressed his lips with mine in a snap.

 _BGM: Kiss Kiss (SHINee)_  
When Keira gave me those gray eyes that were almost on the verge of her tears behind her smiling face, _**something just snapped within me**_. Grabbing her by the arm, I made her face me again while pulling her closer to my side. It’s only been days since I was this close to her, but why did it feel like a lifetime? I’ve lost how many times I’ve imagined having her breathe so close to me.  
“M-Monsieur... w-what are you d—-?! M-Mmm...!”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
With not one single drop of hesitation, I kissed _her cherry lips again_. I felt her ever, soothing warmth around me as I stroked her at the back of her neck with my fingertips. Fuck any rational thoughts anymore.  
“K-Keira...”  
“N-Namjoon-ssi...”  
As I let her take a breather, Keira’s gray eyes couldn’t stop trembling in confusion as I just leaned our foreheads together telling her,  
“Do you understand now why I’m here then mademoiselle?”  
“O-Oui...”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Then will you let me kiss you again?”  
“S'il-vous-plaît...”  
As she nodded with such lulling eyes, I wrapped both of my arms now around her waist more tightly while she wrapped her arms around my neck before our lips met up again. And this time, it was going to be _longer and more intense_.

 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“H-Haaa... h-haaa... m-monsieur...”  
After Namjoon locked the front door and I let down the blinds, he lets my legs wrap around his firm waist as he then carried me so easily towards the wall without letting me breathe. **_Damn, he really knew how to give a swooning French kiss. My mind and even my soul melted at that moment_**.  
“Sssh, Keira... baby, open your mouth wider for me...”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“O-Oui monsieur...”  
I was wholly entranced by him that as soon as my back was on the wall, I didn’t mind if some of my flowers were falling down from the shelves because all I wanted was to feel more of this man... this monsieur’s addicting warmth. _**His woody, musky scent that was intoxicating than any flowers’ scent**_.  
“A-Aaaah...”  
“You like this then hmm?”  
I could only sigh dreamily when Namjoon started pecking me with little kisses and nibbles on my now sweating neckline and a bit of my shoulder line, and even ticklish places like behind my ears and earlobes. _God, how is he so good at kissing?  
*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“M-Monsieur...”  
“K-Keira... _ma chérie_... don’t give me that dazed look of yours... m-merde.”  
 _Even if his pecks were light as a feather, it aroused me even more_. His hands were now making its way upward from caressing my thighs to going inside my dress that it made me squeal a little.  
“H-Haaa... t-the little noises you make mademoiselle. It’s such a turn on...”  
“N-Namjoon-ssi... p-please...”

Fuck. I’ve messed around with women I didn’t give a damn about nor even knew their names of within these seven years, but... why... why was I entirely enticed by this one woman? Is it because she resembles your gray eyes, _caïd_? I honestly don’t know... but all I know is I couldn’t get enough of her. _**Her floral with the fruity tones scent mixed with a bit of her sweat was dangerously addictive**_.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“B-Baise... N-Now I understand why bees are so attracted with a flowers’ nectar...”  
With every little, soft moan Keira lets out as I touch and stroke the delicate parts of her body, **_I was like a bee who couldn’t get enough of her like a flower_**.  
“N-Namjoon...”  
The moment I heard her drop the usual formality, I stared deeply into those ever _enthralling gray eyes_ that also stared so directly at me without faltering. Stopping my hands from unbuttoning her dress, I just lightly kissed Keira on her chest and her forehead next before stroking softly her warm cheeks saying,  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“I... I can’t do this to you, mademoiselle.”  
“M-Monsieur...”  
As I gently let her stand back up on her feet, Keira looked up at me puzzled of what’s happening that she on cue asked,  
“D-Did I do something wrong...?”  
I then wrapped my arms around her and kissed the top of her head.  
“ _N-Non_. None at all. I-It’s the complete opposite, ma chérie...”  
“N-Namjoon-ssi...”  
At the back of my mind, if it were the old me who hadn’t met her, I wouldn’t hesitate to have sex with a woman just for physiological gratification, it was mostly just fooling around in a short period. But now... it didn’t feel right to do that to her. **It didn’t feel right with me to have sex with Keira because of my carnal desires**.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“M-Merde... the things you’re literally doing to me, mademoiselle Keira.”  
“M-Monsieur...”  
I hugged her tightly around my embrace one more time before I kissed both sides of her cheeks and gazed at her face while fixing her disheveled hair.  
“Keira... don’t even think just because I stopped now, it doesn’t mean you’re not beautiful or any of that sort. Tu comprends?”  
“T-Then why...?”  
With a soft sigh, I buttoned up her dress and kissed her this time on the nose before telling her with a sincere smile the words a _scum_ like me didn’t think could fathom to say in this life,  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“J'ai des sentiments pour toi mademoiselle.”

T-This... this isn’t a dream? W-Was this really happening? D-Did I hear those words right from the monsieur standing in front of me?  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“N-Namjoon...”  
“Oui. **I’m having feelings for you** , Keira.”  
All within the span of a short time, this man with the deep brown eyes _managed to crack my heart, send it into a trance, and made it fall even harder for him_.  
“I-Is it okay for me to keep liking you then, monsieur?”  
“Ce serait un honneur. I’d be honored, ma chérie.”  
Feeling dry tears form around the corners of my eyes, I then hugged Namjoon and leaned my head on his calmly beating chest. I may never get tired of his appeasing scent. **Of Namjoon’s scent**.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“I-Is it okay for me to call you monsieur Joon then?”  
“Whatever you say mademoiselle.”  
As he also returned my embrace, I let the small tears slide down my face as I made myself remember this moment, right here, right now. _**With him and my flowers**_.  
“Je t'aime bien, monsieur in a suit.”

 **As I laid my feelings for Keira out on the table, there was no going back**. Hugging her securely in my arms, I made a secret vow to myself. A vow to protect the very woman who may have been my key to normalcy all along ever since I came back here to Korea.

 _Caïd, Renée_... mother, father, and my little sister... I vow I won’t let this third chance slip from my fingers. No matter what or who will come.

_I just didn’t realize how heavy the weight of one single vow could be for now._

***  
 _A few days later:  
Namjoon’s apartment  
Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea_

 _BGM: Cherries Jubiles -acoustic version- (YUKIKA)_  
“Being a professor is surely keeping you busy these past weeks already huh, Namjoon-ssi?”  
“Weren’t you the one who got me here in the first place, need I remind you Yoongi-ssi?”  
As I was getting ready to leave the apartment, I was surprised when a familiar man then came. I haven’t seen him since more than a week ago.  
“I don’t see or hear you complaining though, Namjoon-ssi. I knew you’d suit a job like being a professor.”  
“I’ve never pictured myself as an educator until at present. Since I got here in Korea, it felt like my life in France was just... **a long, fever dream**.”  
Yoongi couldn’t help but chuckle a little at what I had said just now.  
“A long, fever dream huh? You seem much more loose now, Namjoon-ssi. Don’t tell me you met someone?”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
Well shit. I didn’t see that question coming as my response immediately went silent.  
“I-I was just kidding? But... judging from your silence... it seems I scored bullseye then. Is she the one who gave you those _pink roses_ in the vase?”  
“Are the flowers that obvious?”  
“Well... I was the one who was asked by my hyung and father to find you a place to stay here in Seoul, remember?”  
There was no use of dodging and avoiding the topic anymore. Standing up and approaching the _pink roses_ , one woman’s smile and voice made my lips form to a smile on cue.  
 _“Take care of these pink roses for me, monsieur. They mean **happiness** and **admiration** which are two words that make me think of you when I see them...”  
*thump* *thump*_  
“She’s a pretty charming mademoiselle, Yoongi-ssi. She owns this flower shop a few blocks from the university.”  
“I see... she must be the real deal then if she can make a serious lawyer like you smile so naturally, Namjoon-ssi.”  
Pushing back my glasses, I simply told him,  
“It’s just as surprising for me as it is to you, Yoongi-ssi.”

As Yoongi offered to drop me off at the university, I told him I needed to stop over somewhere and he quickly understood the somewhere I vaguely insinuated.  
“I’ll drop you off at the flower shop then. I do have something important to tell you inside the car too.”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
And that’s when I got the strange, gut feeling that whatever he was going to tell me wasn’t a pleasant one.  
“Yoongi-ssi, don’t tell me the reason you came today was because...”  
Nodding with a slightly worried expression, Yoongi just continued to focus on the road before he told me such unforeseen news.  
“Namjoon-ssi, you see...”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“W-What?”  
Right after he had told me the real reason he came to see me today, I could only sigh and lean my head on the passenger seat’s headrest that the rest of the car ride turned silent.

_A bit later...  
In Keira’s flower shop_

“...”  
“J-Joon? Is something wrong?”  
While I was in the deep void of my own thoughts, Keira peeked at my face with a slightly worried expression showing off through those gray eyes.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“A-Ah, no... I was just deep in thought about some things.”  
“Do you want me to make you some tea? I think I can whip up something that’ll ease a bit of your stress.”  
“If it’s not big trouble for you then, mademoiselle Keira.”  
Pecking me softly on my right cheek, Keira just smiled and told me,  
“I don’t mind it, monsieur. I’ll be right back.”  
As I watched Keira’s silhouette disappear to the back portion of her shop, my head was still busy thinking about what Yoongi had told me back in his car.  
 _“Namjoon-ssi, I heard from grandfather that the so-called vulture family you are acquainted with is making moves against the Heroux family, with or without you in the picture.”  
*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Ces putain de vautours... they really don’t know when to give up even now, _caïd_.”  
With a long sigh, I stopped mumbling to myself as I heard Keira’s footsteps echo. Walking back to where I was sitting, she placed down the glass teapot on top of the small waiting table she had in her shop. Since the teapot was translucent, the tea had a very _dark orange color and had what looked like bits and shreds of dried flowers_. It piqued my curiosity.  
“What’s this tea called mademoiselle?”  
As she opened the teapot’s lid, my erratic line of thoughts immediately eased down at one whiff from the tea’s scent that Keira had made. Pouring the tea on one of the two glass teacups, she then gently slid it towards me saying,  
“It’s _rose bud tea_ , Namjoon-ssi. It’s obvious from the name that it’s made up of dried, rose petals from various roses, most especially from the _red and pink ones_.”  
I was more of a coffee kind of person, but when I tried the tea Keira made for me, I couldn’t help but look at her in awe.  
“S-So? D-Does it suit your taste then, monsieur?”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“I... I can’t believe you’re not only a flower expert, but you’re also a tea expert mademoiselle?”  
Keira just giggled at my question as it was my turn to pour the tea in her teacup. How does she keep getting even more beautiful than she already is?  
“ _Pabo_... I’m still learning. It’s just amazing that even flowers can not only be used for decorations but also as medical remedies...”  
“It’s hard to believe too that I’m drinking tea using the very roses you had given to me, Keira.”  
“Now that you mention it... I hadn’t realized it till you told me, monsieur.”  
The tea had a mildly sweet taste and a lingering aftertaste that enticed my taste buds for minutes after each sip. **It reminded me a lot of how I view the very woman who made it for me**.  
 _“Just be careful, Namjoon-ssi. I know the **vultures** don’t know you’re here in Korea and all, but... I know in your old life, that won’t stay true for too long.”  
*thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
“M-Monsieur?”  
“S-Sorry mademoiselle, I spaced out again.”  
Realizing the way I was acting in front of Keira right now, I can’t make her worried. That’s the last thing I would want. I then followed-up saying,  
“Merci. Thank you for the tea, Keira. For you to make a coffee person such as myself drink tea, I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

Namjoon’s brown eyes were always mysterious in my point of view, but... as I stare at his eyes now, _why did it make me feel like he was hiding so much more about himself?_ I know he came from France and he’s a lawyer, a very charismatic and handsome one, yet... **I just know there was more than what meets the eye**.  
“Looks like it’s time for plan B instead of the tea, Namjoon-ssi.”  
“W-What?”  
Ever since Namjoon told me he was having feelings for me, I was starting to become more curious about him. I’d ask him the usual questions you’d ask when you have someone you like. He’d answer them all so coolly that it made me swoon. As I finished thinking of my plan B, I stood up and reached out my right hand to him asking,  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Will you go on a date with me right now then, monsieur Joon?”

When Keira then reached out her hand to me and asked me something, I didn’t expect the next words that would then come out of her mouth. I blinked in both shock and surprise.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“L-Like right now?”  
“You can always say no... especially since I know too that you have something to do back at the university.”  
How am I supposed to say no when she gives me her shy eyes and blushing cheeks? Damn me really.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Fine. Tu gagnes. You win, mademoiselle.”  
I could only sigh with a smile as I then accepted her right hand.  
“N-Namjoon-ssi...”  
“I’m all yours for the rest of the day, Keira.”

 _ **“I’m all yours for the rest of the day, Keira.”**  
*thump* *thump*_  
And those words were more than enough to make me giddy with excitement and melt my heart altogether.

**  
 _Seoul Iris Garden  
Seoul, South Korea_

 _BGM: 네가 좋아 (Hello Ga-Young, PARK WON)_  
Keira didn’t even need to ask if there were places I wanted to go. It was a new experience to watch her drive the _blue, mini-cooper car_ she owned. She then drove us to a garden somewhere in Seoul called **Seoul Iris Garden**. To think she’d take me somewhere that wasn’t a known tourist spot where there could be blindly one crowd after another.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“K-Keira this is...”  
“I hope you don’t mind uncrowded gardens such as this place, monsieur Joon.”  
Taking her right hand and squeezed it tightly, I just told her with a smile,  
“ _Non_. No. It’s perfect, mademoiselle. Just perfect.”

 _The garden was a perfect place if you wanted a peaceful walk alone or with someone_. There were surrounding trees and plants everywhere, and even flowerbeds that had different flowers that suited whatever season the country was experiencing. Even the bridge that had a pond below it and connected a picturesque trail of trees was beautiful as well.  
“You really have a knack for surprising me one after another, Keira.”  
“I prefer going to gardens with lesser crowds to be honest, Namjoon-ssi.”  
As we reached the bridge, I couldn’t help but ask her next,  
“Ma chérie... will you humor my curiosity and I by telling us why you love flowers so much that it made you want to have your own flower shop?”  
“Hmm... my mother once took me to this small flower shop that was near our old house, I was maybe around grade school... and I remember the nice auntie who owned the shop giving me a _**marigold flower**_.”  
One thing I’ve realized after getting to know Keira, _her gray eyes always looked like they were sparkling in my gaze every time she talked about flowers_. It was really attractive, I must admit.  
“What does a marigold flower mean then mademoiselle?”  
“Hmm... as a little girl, I didn’t know that flowers had meanings at all monsieur. But I do remember she said, ‘ _ **good luck**_ ’ after she gave it to me. It’s a flower for good luck. That moment had stuck with me so vividly and I guess the rest is history.”  
“You really love flowers, don’t you Keira?”  
She nodded happily and smiled so widely saying,  
“Oui. I sure do, monsieur! Just like that auntie in my memories, I wanted to share the same joys or other feelings flowers can bring to someone...”  
 _Caïd_ , is it really okay for someone like me to even have such steady feelings for someone as wonderful like her?  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“You’re already doing so much of that, Keira...”  
As we stood by the bridge, I stepped closer to Keira’s side and enclosed her in my embrace.

 _*thump* *thump*_  
“N-Namjoon-ssi...”  
When Namjoon all of a sudden wraps me around his long, strong arms, my thoughts get jumbled up every single time. **_But his hug never failed to calm me_**.  
“Tell me more, mademoiselle.”  
It felt like with where our conversations were heading now, I guess asking him out on a date out of the blue wasn’t such a bad idea after all huh?

Keira went on to tell me more fond memories of her childhood as we crossed the bridge hand-in-hand and walked along the trail of swaying trees because of the summer breeze.  
“You and your family must be so close then, mademoiselle?”  
“Uh huh, my mother and I are very close monsieur Joon. Sadly... I don’t even know who my father is though.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
Fuck. Did you really just step into a landmine with one question? Smooth move Kim Namjoon, you fool.  
“Keira... I...”  
“ _Non_. Don’t you even dare apologize, Namjoon-ssi. It’s fine. D'accord?”  
Seeing the still evident smile written all over Keira’s face, I squeezed her hand tightly with mine once again and kissed her forehead saying,  
“Oui. I hear you loud and clear then, ma chérie.”  
The way she didn’t mind sharing something that might’ve been not a very easy thing to share, it made me a bit guilty that I was the exact opposite of that. Yet... I do hope somewhere along the way as I’m with her, I’ll be able to tell her everything too. **About who I am. And what kind of person I really am**.

When Namjoon asked me about my family, for some odd reason, I didn’t mind telling him outright about me not knowing who my biological father was. _It was only my mother and I who have been together for the longest time_.  
“Keira, what are you thinking about?”  
“Hmm...”  
The two of us then found ourselves sitting and taking shade from the sun’s blazing rays under a big tree in the garden where it was allowed to sit on the green, grassy area. I was leaning my head on Namjoon’s chest as he was hugging me from behind in a cross legged position. _I can’t even tell if the tree or his body was the sturdier one or even both_.  
“I’m just thinking about how hard it must’ve been for my mother to raise me all by herself...”  
“Your mother is such a strong woman, even though I haven’t met or seen her.”  
“How can you tell, monsieur?”  
As I glanced back to look at him, I was caught in surprise the second Namjoon leans his face closer to mine and our lips meet for a few seconds before he said so handsomely behind those black spectacles of his,  
“ **Just by looking at you, Keira**.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“J-Jeez...”  
When I blushed beet red on cue and tried hiding my embarrassed expression by nuzzling my face on his chest, Namjoon just chuckled at my reaction with his deep, boyish laugh.

If this _**normalcy**_ I’m experiencing right now was all a dream, no matter how cliche it sounds, I wouldn’t ever want to wake up from it. I wouldn’t ever want to let go of the very woman in my embrace.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Ma chérie... I’m also curious, did you graduate at _SNU_ by any chance?”  
Keira could only blink in bewilderment as she nodded innocently.  
“O-Oui... h-how did you know?”  
“Just an educated guess. It felt like every time you came to the university, you always seemed at home. If that’s a good way to describe it.”  
Now it was Keira’s turn to laugh at my reply before she told me,  
“Lawyers really have a way with words, don’t they? Especially lawyers who are professors too.”  
“You have to be good at _wordplay_ when you’re a lawyer mademoiselle. How about you then?”  
“I graduated as a life science major, monsieur.”  
Now I’m not surprised by that one bit. I can perfectly picture Keira in a white lab coat and talking about plants so professionally.  
“Now that makes perfect sense on why you’re so knowledgeable about plants, especially flowers mademoiselle. It’s very appealing.”  
Giggling, Keira then turned around to face me in our sitting position and asked,  
“How about you monsieur in a suit? What is it like being a lawyer in France? I’ve always wanted to go see what kind of country my father is from.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Y-Your father is **French** , Keira?”  
Nodding, she explained to me,  
“Oui. My mother is Korean. That’s why I’m half of each... weird right?”  
“W-Wow... not weird but definitely... fascinating in my terms.”  
To think I’d meet someone who’s spent all of her life not knowing what kind of father she has or had while being strong enough to smile at me so sincerely. **To think I’d meet someone who shares the same line of nationality with you and your family, caïd**.  
“What is France like, monsieur? Is it beautiful as they say with all the very, renaissance-like buildings and poetic ambience?”  
Stroking her cheeks, I simply told her,  
“Very much, Keira. But... it’s too simple for words to fully describe what I had seen of France unless you’ve seen it for yourself, ma chérie.”  
“Haaa... that would be a wonderful idea, Namjoon-ssi. But I can’t easily leave my flower shop here and my mother would go manic if I ever did that and she’d find out.”  
Without even second thinking, I asked her,  
“ **Even if I told you to come with me**?”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
Fuck. What the hell did you just say Namjoon?

“N-Namjoon-ssi...”  
I could hear the thumping of my heart grow even louder at what he had said to me so seriously. _The kind of eyes that you know just by looking at them, he wasn’t making things up_. He was genuinely straightforward.  
“M-Mademoiselle... t-that question is insensitive of me, so you don’t have to an—-,”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Oui. If you want me to...”  
I then didn’t hesitate with my reply. My very honest reply to his honest question.

When Keira nodded shyly and said yes before I could even finish my sentence, I leaned my forehead on hers saying,  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“You’re really an unbelievable mademoiselle, Keira...”  
As we could feel each other’s breathing and very close eye-to-eye contact, _my lips touched hers in an instant like a magnetic force_.  
“M-Mmm... m-monsieur...”  
With her soft whisper in between our lips communicating with each other’s and one glance at her now dazed gray eyes with the blushing cheeks, I swiftly changed our positions as I placed both of my hands on the tree with Keira now being the one leaning on it as I continued kissing her.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“S-Shit... K-Keira...”  
Having a few seconds to breathe, Keira just giggled cutely as she leaned her forehead on mine this time again while wrapping her arms around my neck.  
“What’s so funny, my mademoiselle?”  
“Uh-uh... i-it’s just making me really weak how you’re such a good kisser monsieur...”  
Pecking both of her eyelids, I told her simply,  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“ **Let me continue teaching you then, mademoiselle Keira-ssi.** ”

 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“H-Hmmm... O-Oui s'il te plaît monsieur Joon...”  
“Time for _**my next lesson**_ then, ma chérie.”  
As Namjoon flashed me such _a sexy grin that made his dimples pop out on cue while taking off his glasses_ , my whole mind and body went numb as he continued teaching me through his lips and kisses just like he had said. **Even if I weren’t in Paris or France right now, he made me feel like I was there** as I gripped on more tightly to the back of his soft, brown hair. And that absolutely was so wondrous just to be alone with him like this.

**  
 _A bit later..._

 _BGM: Everybody Has (CHUNG HA)_  
After our sudden make-out session underneath a tree and at the garden, Keira and I decided to cool down at the book cafe that was also situated within the big garden itself. Who would’ve thought that there would even be an air conditioned book cafe too?  
“What plans do you have in mind after our lunch, mademoiselle?”  
I asked her while caressing her hands from across the table.  
“I’m driving you back to the university of course, monsieur.”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“W-What?”  
I blinked at her in disbelief.  
“I know you told me that I can have you for the rest of the day Namjoon-ssi, but I also can’t let myself get in between with you and your job. A job that really makes you shine.”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
This woman really. I guess it’s true what you said to me before _caïd_.  
 _“Namjoon, you have to experience all the wrong ones first so you can tell yourself how worthwhile everything that came along the way was when you find the right one in the end son.”_  
“Is that really alright with you, Keira?”  
“Of course...! A-And... I already got quality alone time with you today so that’s more than enough for me, monsieur.”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Mademoiselle really... don’t make me toss aside this table in between us and give you another lesson.”  
Keira just groaned in embarrassment while chuckling a bit and slapping me playfully on my hands that were holding hers.  
“H-Hey...! Save your cunning _wordplay_ for your lectures, Professor Kim.”

_Around early in the afternoon:  
Seoul National University_

“Monsieur, you have to promise me something.”  
“Hmm? What do you mean?”  
Before we were about to get off my car, I had something important to ask of Namjoon that he could only look at me curiously.  
“I... I know about your popularity with the ladies here at the university, both with the professors and students, so... can you promise me that you’ll try to keep our relationship low key for now when you’re on Professor mode?”  
“Mademoiselle...”  
Caressing one side of his cheek, I added,  
“I... I don’t want what we currently have to affect the way your colleagues and even your students are going to perceive you monsieur.”

For Keira to suggest keeping our current relationship in secret just so it wouldn’t affect my standing at work when it’s necessarily not a problem with me, my respect and admiration for her kept on increasing.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Je le promets. I promise. As long as it’s okay with you, it’s okay with me, mademoiselle.”  
Gently taking her hand that was stroking one side of my cheek, I planted a kiss at the back of it.  
“I wouldn’t suggest a promise if I wasn’t okay with it, monsieur in a suit. Now come on, let’s get going.”  
“Whatever you say then, mademoiselle Keira-ssi.”

“Oh... so this is the college of agriculture and life sciences’ building then?”  
“Oui. I’ve had so many fond memories here monsieur.”  
As we walked around the campus, I showed Namjoon the very building that felt like my second home during my university years.  
“Just by looking at how your gray eyes are glimmering from my sight, that’s a given mademoiselle.”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“J-Jeez... d-don’t make me blush so obviously, Namjoon-ssi.”  
With a small laugh, Namjoon just said while whispering to my left ear before he walked off so nonchalantly with a grin,  
“Then don’t give me those enticing gray eyed stare of yours or **I’ll break my promise to you in a heartbeat by pushing my lips to yours right here, right now** ma chérie.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
Shit. _His deep voice_ on cue made me and my whole body weak that it was so difficult to stop myself from flushing beet red. Covering my left ear, I groaned in annoyance of how he caught me off guard so easily again.  
“H-Hey...! T-That’s foul play, Professor Kim...! J-Jeez...!”

It was very hard to keep my distance from Keira while we’re walking around the campus together that I couldn’t stop myself from teasing her instead. Although... what I whispered to her just now, I meant every word.  
“It’s not foul play when I meant every word I said just now, mademoiselle.”  
“I-I’m not believing that one bit...”  
Glancing back at her, she just pouted adorably while her cheeks were going pinkish or even reddish. Damn it really. I just want to hug her in my arms again right now.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Comment quelqu'un peut-il être aussi beau...?”  
“Hmm? What did you say Namjoon-ssi?”  
As she ran up to my side, I just tucked a bit of her baby hair behind her left ear saying,  
“Non. I’m just thinking out loud about how I’m lucky enough to have you, mademoiselle Keira-ssi.”  
“I should be the one saying that, monsieur Namjoon-ssi.”

 _BGM: I Wonder (1set)_  
 _“I won’t be long. I’ll just have to finish preparing the test questionnaires for my week’s lecture. I’ll come find you once I’m done. Okay?”  
*thump* *thump*_  
That was the last thing Namjoon said to me before I watched him walk up the stairs at the college of law’s building. _The same stairs that was the bear witness to the first time the monsieur I was having feelings for had kissed me_.  
“Everything still feels like a dream though...”  
I mumbled to myself like a fool while sitting on one of the many benches placed around the campus. But somehow this bench that I’m sitting now had always been **my favorite spot here at the university because it was right behind a quaint trail of trees and flower shrubs**.  
 _*ring* *ring*_  
“Hmm?”  
As I was busy being stuck in my own daydreaming thoughts, I was snapped back to reality the second my phone started ringing. Seeing the caller ID, I couldn’t help but smile and answered it instantly.  
“ _Eomma_... I didn’t think you’d call out of the blue.”  
“And why not? Can’t I just call my daughter to ask how she is?”  
Ever since I graduated university and started my own flower shop, my mother decided to move back to _Jeju Island_ , her hometown while I stayed here in Seoul. It was really good to hear her voice from the other line since I barely had any time to come and visit her.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“I’m fine _eomma_... how about you? Don’t tell me you’re still keeping yourself busy by going to the orange orchards and picking them all throughout the day?”  
“My daughter is really smart isn’t she...? You really need an assistant to help you at your shop so you can take more free days off! What’s the use of being your own boss if you can’t even make time to visit me?!”  
And there she goes again with her motherly ranting. I just laughed and replied,  
“I can perfectly handle the flower shop all by myself, _eomma_...! Didn’t you even realize that I got my strong, independent self from you?”  
“I know Keira, darling... that’s why I couldn’t be more prouder of who you’ve grown up to be.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“ _E-Eomma_ really... d-don’t make me cry while I’m waiting for someone...”  
Without even hesitating, she on cue asked,  
“Ohhh...?! Waiting for someone...? D-Did my daughter finally found that someone someone?!”  
Mothers and their scary intuitions, really.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“ _E-Eomma_... w-would it be weird if I told you that I found someone... someone I really, really like... but we just met a couple of weeks ago... and I don’t know... I don’t know if this is all just on impulse or...”  
“Keira, sweetie... you’re a grown woman already. It’s perfectly natural to feel that way honey... **not knowing at first if the butterflies you get from that someone is a good thing or a bad thing**. But... I guess that’s just how love works. **There’s no right or wrong ways to deal with love**.”  
Not to mention, mothers really know the right words to say in moments like these.  
“But honey... just remember. _**It doesn’t matter whether you’ve known someone for a short 20 seconds or long 20 years, you’ll know it at first glance. You’ll know if that someone is meant to be someone special in your life**_.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*  
“Je m'appelle Namjoon. Kim Namjoon, mademoiselle.”_  
“Y-You really know what to say whenever I need it, _eomma_...”  
“So? What’s his name? Is he from around Seoul?”  
The way she instantly shifts the conversation really had me feeling touched and emotional for a few seconds before I could only sigh in exhaustion telling her,  
“ _Eomma_ really... that’s a real subtle way to change the subject so quickly huh?”  
“Oh please don’t be so dramatic already Keira... now tell your mother who’s the very man who’s caught your attention aside from flowers this time?”  
“J-Jeez fine... I really got my stubborn side from you...”  
When I was about to continue my very embarrassing conversation with my mother on the phone, my breathing almost stopped the second a _familiar deep, mellow voice_ echoed saying,  
“So you were here then, mademoiselle Keira.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
“Keira? Honey? Who’s the voice who mentioned your name just now? D-Don’t tell me that’s...!”  
In a panic, I just told my mother lastly before hanging up the call,  
“S-Sorry _eomma_...! I-I’ll call you back later... take care of yourself, okay? B-Bye...!”  
“D-Don’t you dare hang up on me young lady or e—-,”  
 _*beep* *beep*_  
She is going to nag me twice as hard the next time I call. I’m so sorry, _eomma_!  
“M-Monsieur Joon... h-how did you even find me here?”  
Namjoon just chuckled at my stumped expression while I was also fumbling terribly at hiding my phone before he approached me and sat down on the bench as well.  
“I left you a few messages but you didn’t reply so I looked for you myself.”  
W-What?! In a hurry, I then checked my phone and saw three to five messages coming from him while my mother called.  
 _Monsieur Namjoon-ssi: Mademoiselle? I just finished the things I have to do. I’ll come to where you are in a bit.  
Monsieur Namjoon-ssi: Keira? Where are you?  
Monsieur Namjoon-ssi: Ma chérie... you’re making me worried here...  
Monsieur Namjoon-ssi: Keira...? Are you okay? Where are you?_  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“D-Désolé...! Sorry monsieur...! I didn’t reply because I was on a phone call with my mother who suddenly called me out of the blue.”  
“I’m just glad you’re fine, mademoiselle.”  
As Namjoon then reached out to hold my right hand with a clear smile written on his lips, his hand’s warmth right away erased all of my inner jitters.  
“N-Namjoon-ssi...”

 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Fuck. Where is she? Where are you, Keira?”  
My thoughts and heartbeat were raging at the thought of something bad happening to Keira when she didn’t reply to any of my messages and my calls weren’t pushing through to her number.  
 _“Monsieur...!”_  
So many possibilities could and can happen as I ran around the campus while trying to find her. And as I reached **a trail of trees and flower shrubs that somehow resembled the garden she had taken me this morning** , there she was all along. There the very silhouette with the _**hazelnut brown hair and gray eyes I vowed myself to protect was sitting**_.  
“J-Jeez fine... I really got my stubborn side from you...”  
She was talking to someone on the phone and from her voice’s informal tone, it was someone close to her. But... the only thing that mattered to me the most was seeing her safe and sound. _Nothing more, nothing less_. With relief flooding me from head to toe, I breathed in deeply before saying,  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“So you were here then, mademoiselle Keira.”  
And as soon as my brown eyes meet her gray ones, my lips automatically formed to a smile.  
“M-Monsieur Joon...”  
After she quickly hanged up the call she was taking and putting away her phone in a hurry, I then walked up to her and sat on the bench she was sitting while maintaining a small distance between us. Keira then asked me how I even found her here and the second I told her that I left her messages, she panicked and took out her phone.  
“D-Désolé monsieur...!”  
And also right after she read my messages, she was very quick to apologize for not replying to me because she was talking on the phone with her mother. Of course, why would I even get mad because of that?  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“ _Non_. W-What matters to me the most is just finding you safe and sound, Keira...”  
Not being able to hold it in, I reached out to touch her right hand just to reassure myself that she was really here with me. **She’s really here beside me**.  
“N-Namjoon-ssi...”  
“T-Thank goodness you’re alright, ma chérie.”  
As we just locked eyes for a few more seconds while listening to the rustling of the leaves on the trees because of the wind, Keira then moved closer to my side and leaned her head on my left shoulder while gripping tightly onto my hand that was still holding hers.  
“M-Merci... thank you for finding me then, monsieur.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
Gently letting go of her hand, I then pulled her even closer to me and wrapped her in my embrace while trying my hardest not to let her notice my shaking and kissing the top of her head.  
“Je te protégerai de tout ce qu’il faut my mademoiselle...”

 _BGM: Just Look for you (AILEE)_  
 _ **“I’ll protect you whatever it takes...”**  
*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
As Namjoon was hugging me securely in his always, warm embrace, my eyes couldn’t stop trembling and my heart too of what he had to tell me. _W-Why did it feel like there’s more to the meaning of his words?_  
“J-Joon... I... I’m not going to go anywhere... okay? I... I’m right here.”  
He always had a very composed expression but right now... it was the exact opposite of it and somehow with him trying to find me, it must have triggered something within him. **Something that he has yet to open up with me**.  
“I know... I know Keira. Je sais...”  
Caressing his cheeks, he then cupped my small hands with his big ones before he kissed me on the forehead and we just stayed in each other’s embrace for a little while. _We didn’t even care if we had just broken the promise we made back in my car_.

“You know...”  
“What is it, mademoiselle?”  
After our rather long, comforting hug, Keira then glanced up at me and said,  
“Somehow... I would’ve never imagined myself to have a heartfelt moment like this with someone at my most favorite spot here in campus.”  
“So this is your favorite place after all huh, mademoiselle Keira?”  
Nodding, she then tells me happily,  
“Oui... I always come here when I just want time to myself and a safe haven of my own. **You’re the only person who had succeeded in finding me here, monsieur**.”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Is it safe of me to assume then that you were only interested in plants and flowers throughout your whole time here in _SNU_?”  
“You’re so scarily smart, Professor Kim...”  
As I couldn’t avert my eyes away from Keira’s candid smile, I didn’t hesitate to tell her one thing I haven’t told anyone else for a long time now,  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Keira... would you believe me if I told you that I also was a student here for a year before I went to France?”  
“W-What? R-Really?!”  
“Yes. Back in **2012**.”  
Keira then looked at me with a very shocked face as she said in a gasp,  
“2-2012? T-That was the same year I entered freshman year, monsieur...”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
My heartbeat went crazy at the sudden turn of events. Who would’ve thought that Keira and I actually entered the same university on the same year but we barely knew of each other back then? _Crazy as it may sound... what kind of story would it have been like if she and I had met before?_  
“W-Wow... C’est incroyable, hein? Imagine how small the world actually is, mademoiselle...”  
“But...”  
“But...?”  
Keira then looked up at the late afternoon sky which was now a mix of _pink, blue, and orange_ before she stared directly at me saying,  
“Whether you and I could have met all those years ago Namjoon-ssi, I... I wouldn’t replace the very present we had met now.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“K-Keira...”  
“Although~ I do wonder what it would’ve been like to date someone back in university... there was this one time where I saw a couple fighting by the trail right behind this very bench and the guy didn’t hesitate to swoop the girl up in his arms and he started running around while carrying her like what you’d see in movies and books that she could only squeal in embarrassment while they both laughed together...”  
As Keira was reminiscing about the story she was telling me about, I asked her,  
“Did those two make up in the end then?”  
“Oui, they did. I couldn’t forget that memory and it stuck with me back then and even now... **a beautiful moment in life that seemed so simple but it was so much more for those two**.”  
When I was about to reply to what Keira said, the two of us could only blink the second raindrops started dropping from the now cloudy sky.  
“...”  
“...”  
Why does the rain really like butting in during times when you least expect it to come?  
“M-Monsieur...! C-Come on! L-Let’s go before we catch a cold too!”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
Yet it felt like the rain came at the right time whenever Keira and I were together for some reason that I then didn’t waver of what I wanted to do next.  
“I have a better idea, ma chérie.”  
“What do you m—-?!”  
Keira could only stare at me in pure disbelief and silence as I swooped her effortlessly and held her up in my arms.

 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
I couldn’t react fast enough the moment Namjoon swooped me up in his strong, firm arms and carried me so coolly just like the story I had told him about in my memories. _**But to think the story was happening to me now while it’s raining**_... it made me dumbstruck that I could only look at him with trembling eyes.  
“This is easier for me, wouldn’t you think so too, mademoiselle?”  
“J-Joon...”  
“Hold on tight, Keira.”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“?!”  
Before I knew it, he started running through the now, wet paths all over the campus while I could only wrap my arms around his neck tightly while my heart was still beating and pounding so rapidly. Shit. I would literally die from embarrassment if someone took a photo of us or even saw us right now.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“J-Jeez...! M-Monsieur Joon...! P-Put me down please... s-someone’s going to see you _pabo_...!”

Ignoring what Keira had to say, I just chuckled as she hid her flustered and grumbling face on my chest as I continued running towards the parking area.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“I’d rather be caught red-handed than to let you go right now, mademoiselle Keira-ssi.”  
“U-Ugh... p-please don’t jinx it, Professor Kim...”  
At that moment too though, I never thought in this lifetime I’d experience such a moment that was only meant to be read in books or seen in movies. It didn’t feel real. Yet... it was no doubt. _**The person I was holding steadily in my arms was real**_. And that’s what mattered. That’s what mattered to me, _caïd_. Keira’s laugh and smile were something I’d cherish for the longest time even in the short time I’ve spent with her.

Nevertheless, the time I was bound to be tested on how far I’ll go to protect this one woman was only in the works. _In the works of happening very soon_.

***  
 _A few weeks later...  
Seoul National University_

 _BGM: Midnight Star (SBGB)_  
“You could’ve told me that you and Keira-ssi were **THAT** close, Professor Kim.”  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Professor Jung.”  
It’s been _more than a month_ already since I came to Seoul and yes, it’s been a month already too since I met Keira and all. Adding to that, it’s been a few weeks too since that day in the rain. It looks like someone did see us since the day right after that occurred, my life wasn’t as hectic and I didn’t find myself being chased by overly curious female students and being approached by female professors.  
“Professor Kim, really? Although your poker face is really believable and all but... judging from how you didn’t hesitate to chase after Keira-ssi that one time when the three of us were in the same room and she flees, that was already the start huh?”  
I got to say, Professor Jung is really perceptive and has a way of getting you to tell the truth, especially when he places down his phone on my table and there a clear photo of me carrying Keira in my arms flashed on the screen. The only good thing about the photo was it only showed the back of Keira’s brown hair and didn’t expose her face.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“How did you even come to the conclusion that the woman in the photo is Keira-ssi, Professor Jung?”  
Crossing his arms with a laugh, he pointed out to me straightly,  
“Need I remind you I’m a lawyer too, Professor Kim. Not as charismatic and handsome as you of course.”  
I couldn’t help but chuckle at what he said as well. With a short sigh, I just confessed,  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“If I tell you yes about Keira-ssi and I, will you keep it to yourself from Professor to Professor? I promised her that we’d keep our relationship low-key especially she doesn’t want it affecting my job here.”  
“That’s Keira-ssi for you. **She’s always thinking about the other person instead of herself**. It’s a noble and attractive trait of hers... but,”  
“But?”  
My right eyebrow then arched up in curiosity of what he had to say next. With a smile, Professor Jung just placed his hand on my left shoulder saying,  
“It’s also a source of vulnerability for someone like her, Professor Kim. **A vulnerability that someone can take advantage of**.”  
“Professor Jung...”  
“Take care of her, Namjoon-ssi. As her friend, I’m happy to hear about the two of you going steady. And as your colleague too, I’m happy that you found someone whom can make you smile so naturally like in the photo.”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
As Professor Jung was then being called over by another professor, he excused himself and left the scene.  
 _“I’m happy that you found someone whom can make you smile so naturally like in the photo.”_  
It’s been a long while too since someone was that candidly honest with me. In my old life, that was such a rarity except when it came to _caïd_ and his family. Looks like it wasn’t a weird thing for Keira and Professor Jung to be friends after all. _Because... for an inane reason, I wanted to think of him that way too from this point on_.

Smiling a bit to myself, I went on to prepare for my next lecture while recalling that very memory of me carrying Keira in my arms in the rain and suddenly missing her warmth.  
“I wonder what that mademoiselle is doing right now...”

_I didn’t know that smile would turn right around in a few hours._

*  
“Does anyone have more questions before we proceed to the next discussion?”  
“I do have a question, Professor Kim!”  
“What is it then?”  
As one of my students then raised her hand, she then didn’t hesitate to ask straightforwardly,  
“Professor Kim, when are you going to confirm to us that you have a girlfriend? Especially when someone caught you red handed in the rain together?”  
The whole class then started murmuring with one another in passing whispers.  
“Any other question?”  
And then another person raised her hand. But without even asking her to stand up, she asked in follow-up,  
“Professor Kim, what’s your girlfriend like? Is it true that she’s an alumna of the university too?”  
As much as I want to ignore their never-ending, inquisitive questions about my personal life, I just put down my notes on the table and leaned my back on the table before pushing back my glasses and saying in a small chuckle,  
“Eh bien, vous n’êtes pas tout à coup actifs?”  
All of them then looked at each other in confusion.  
“W-What?”  
“N-No fair Professor Kim, none of us in the class can speak French you know.”  
Scoffing another chuckle, I just said while crossing both of my arms together,  
“Good. Now that I got all of your attentions, turn your books to the next chapter.”  
And right on cue, all of them groaned in exhaustion saying,  
“Come on Professor Kim... can you at least humor us even for today only? Please?”  
“We promise we’ll not complain for the rest of the lecture if you just answer one of our questions...! And we mean, a personal question, not a law related question!”  
These kids are going to be one hell of lawyers when they graduate and pass the bar exams. Thinking of that passingly to myself, I couldn’t help but smile at their compromise and told them,  
“Alors, d'accord. That’s a compromise I can take. You all better ask that one question properly because I’m only going to answer once and only one question.”  
They all then started whispering and deliberating what their one question for me was going to be. And when they finally settled for it, one of them lastly finally raised their hand and stood up asking,  
“Professor Kim, all of us want to know... was the woman you were carrying in the rain a few weeks ago your girlfriend?”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
Keira, ma chérie, looks like there’s no escaping their one question, especially when they’re coming from very inquisitive students who are going to be lawyers in the near future. Holding my notes again in my right hand, I simply said,  
“ **Yes**. Yes, she is.”  
The whole lecture room then squealed in surprise.  
“Okay then, now that I kept my part of the agreement. Turn your books to the next chapter.”

 _BGM: DAHLIA ((G)I-DLE)_  
My lecture went on without a hitch after I answered their one question. They were even being more active in participating for the next lesson. The power of how one question can do to a group of overly curious students huh?  
“Professor Kim, is second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter of the same essence under the eyes of the law?”  
“No. They’re both very different terms that cannot be used interchangeably. Second-degree murder requires that the defendant acted impulsively, and without premeditation, but with an intent and understanding of his actions. Meanwhile, in simple terms, voluntary manslaughter is more known as ‘heat of passion’ crimes where the defendant may not have fully understood what he or she was doing to the victim. Do you all understand that?”  
“Yes, Professor Kim!”  
And then, another student raised his hand and asked,  
“Professor Kim, have you heard the news that’s been flooding around social media just this morning?”  
“What news?”  
“It’s about the man who’s been convicted to three counts of murder for shooting his ex-wife at a mall here in Seoul while also accidentally killing a mother and her child who happened to pass by the scene when the incident occurred.”  
I guess even crimes like these can also happen to a forefront country like Seoul, South Korea huh?  
“Okay then. Je vois. Are you trying to ask me if his situation can be sufficient for second-degree murder when it came to killing the mother and child who were bystanders but ended up being victims?”  
“Yes, that Professor Kim... but there’s something more.”  
“Elaborate then.”  
However, I wasn’t prepared at all for what my student had to say next.  
“Professor Kim, it’s said on the news that the convicted man had managed to escape while being transferred from the courthouse to one of Seoul’s secluded security prisons.”  
 _*thump*_  
“What?”  
All of the students then exchanged worried stares at each other. It wasn’t here say then. One of them then took out their phone and then played a video for me regarding the so-called news that’s spiraling all over the nation at the moment.

> _As of 3:13 this very afternoon, the police and investigators are still in search of criminal convict Lee._
> 
> _Lee had escaped the police who had been guarding him while he was being transported from the courthouse to the security prison after receiving his life imprisonment verdict today for the incidents he’d done with regards to his ex-wife, and a mother and her child._
> 
> _The police are advising the public to stay extra vigilant and watchful especially those who live around the Gwanak-gu area._
> 
> _If any civilian comes in contact with him, please inform the local authorities and the police immediately._
> 
> _This is Kim Younha of SBN news._

_*thump* *thump*_  
 _Gwanak-gu area_... how can a bunch of police lose a convicted man so easily and even have the audacity to not find him yet?  
“...”  
“T-That means that man is still freely roaming around the streets of Seoul...”  
“A-And around this area too...”  
With my students falling into clamor, I had to calm all of them down before the class could get out of hand.  
“Okay, okay everyone. Settle down. Right after classes are over, I want none of you to get in and out of campus alone. Travel in pairs or in groups. Be extra observant alright? Especially when dusk comes.”  
“Y-Yes, Professor Kim.”  
However, there was an uneasy feeling bubbling up within me that wouldn’t settle down.  
 _“J-Joon...!”_  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Can someone expand to me more about the man named Lee’s case? Like a brief description of how his ex-wife looks like or is like?”  
“What are you trying to say, Professor Kim?”  
With a long sigh, I put down my notes again on top of the table before crossing my arms telling them,  
“Since this is a criminal law class, let me tell you what I experienced firsthand being a lawyer in a foreign country. Criminals... criminals tend to lean on _certain_ _demographics_. It’s very rare if they stir away from that, especially if you’ve read about the night stalker incidents in _America_.”  
“Professor Kim... then is it possible he’s going to strike someone who resembles his late ex-wife?”  
“Not possible, but probable. Didn’t you guys just inform me that he had killed the mother and child by accident because they were in the crossfire of him killing his ex-wife? There was no malice in the former, but in the latter, it was definitely premeditated. That’s why the most logical way of looking it, he may be led to a certain demographic.”  
One of the students then explained to me,  
“Um, well Professor Kim... he and his late ex-wife separated because of monetary reasons. The ex-wife was earning more than him as a banker because of her booming home business. That didn’t sit well with him and he started verbally and emotionally abusing her which caused her to file a divorce against him.”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
 _“A successful businesswoman huh?”_  
“Any other key points?”  
And another student pointed out to me,  
“Ah, we forgot to mention Professor Kim, his late ex-wife is a foreigner with _naturalized_ Korean citizenship.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
I hope my always, instinctive gut feelings were wrong this time around.  
“What’s the color of his late ex-wife’s hair?”  
They glanced confusingly at one another before one finally answered me,  
“A-Ah... well... the news said it was brown, Professor Kim... but we don’t know why it suddenly relates to t—-?”  
I’ve dealt with a lot of people who were sick and wrong in the head during my life in France for those seven years, but... the moment they got me to puzzle out all the pieces I needed to reach a conclusion, **my feet took over me next and no rational thoughts were enough to stop me from what I was about to do**.  
 _“She’s a successful businesswoman,”_  
 _“She’s a naturalized foreigner,”_  
 _“She had brown hair,”_  
 _“Monsieur Joon...!”_  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Merde. Pourquoi je n’ai pas vu ça venir?”  
Without wavering, I hurriedly grabbed my _brown, slim, leather briefcase_ and jumped out of the lecture room’s window, **not giving a damn that we were all on the second floor**.  
“P-Professor Kim?!”  
“W-What are you—-?!”  
There was only one thing rushing inside my head right at that very instant. I’m not going to lose for the third time around. _I won’t let anything happen to the woman who has the same eyes as yours, caïd_.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“As if I’m going to let some convicted man fuck everything up right now.”  
Landing on the ground smoothly on both feet, I pushed back my glasses before I started running towards only one direction.

 _Meanwhile, in Keira’s flower shop:_  
“Congratulations again Doc Kolette...! You’re really going to be a professor for the college of medicine too?! You’re such a busy woman already!”  
“Jeez... y-you’re already making me tear up with your words and it doesn’t help too that the _pink stargazer lilies bouquet_ you made for me are just as amazing as always, Keira-yah...”  
Hugging a close friend, and who was like an older sister altogether, I’ve made back during my time at _SNU_ who came to visit me even at the shop despite her very busy schedule, felt absolutely heartwarming.  
“You’re welcome _unnie_... I really missed talking to you like this.”  
“You big baby. Don’t be like that... let’s go out together soon okay?”  
The two of us just fell to giggles before another voice echoed while passing by Kolette and I.  
“Keira noona, I’ll be heading back now.”  
“Ah sure, thank you for your help again today Jimin-ssi!”  
As Jimin exited the flower shop, Kolette gave me a suspicious look and grin saying,  
“Hooo~ so are you and that cute guy you know...?”  
“Don’t even think about it...! He’s just a law student from _SNU_ who comes once in a while here at the shop to learn more about the flowers, unnie.”  
“Oh please Keira-yah, if you keep thinking like that, how are you supposed to get a man of your own?”  
The second Kolette finished her sentence, my cheeks blushed when that _one man’s deep and mellow voice_ started lingering inside my head on cue.  
 _“Ma chérie.”_  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“W-Well...”  
Kolette’s _green eyes_ then turned wide and started shaking as she squealed saying,  
“Y-You sneaky little _dongsaeng_...! Y-You hooked up with a man didn’t you?! And you didn’t even bother to tell me until now?!”  
“J-Jeez unnie! D-Don’t make me blush more than I’m already feeling!”  
“Then spill...! Before I open up your brain and do the searching myself!”  
As she was about to interrogate me more impatiently while laughing together, the two of us looked at each other the second her phone started ringing.  
“You better answer that _unnie_ , it must be important or could even be an emergency.”  
“Thank you, Keira-yah. I’ll take this then.”  
Answering the call, it didn’t take long for Kolette’s eyes to start shaking again but this time it was out of restlessness.  
“W-What? I’ll be right there then.”  
After hanging up the very quick call, she stared at me with a quite sorry smile saying,  
“Keira-yah...”  
“Uh-uh. It’s fine, _unnie_. Go and save whoever you’re going to save, be it a patient or someone from the hospital, Doc Kolette.”  
As she hugged me tightly in her arms, I returned the same before she said,  
“Just because I’m leaving in a hurry doesn’t mean I’ll forget the fact that you still owe me an explanation about you and the man who made my precious _dongsaeng_ blush, got it?”  
*thump* *thump*  
“J-Jeez... just go already, _unnie_!”  
Taking the flowers bouquet, she kissed me on the cheek as a goodbye while I walked her out of the shop.  
“Call me anytime you’re free, _unnie_.”  
“I will. I promise. Be sure to lock up properly too when you’re alone, okay Keira-yah? Especially after what came out of the news today.”  
I watched Kolette get inside of her car before I waved lastly to her and went back inside the shop to clean up and close up early as per advice of my dear _unnie_ herself.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“I hope monsieur is staying safe too...”

 _BGM: Burning (Rothy)_  
While I was putting away the flowers that were on my _to-trim-their-thorns-off_ list, the shop’s bell echoed again when someone entered through the front door.  
“A-Ah, just a minute while I put these flowers away...!”  
I didn’t even realize how the next seconds were going to lead up to. Especially when it could lead to a very dangerous place for me as the door’s bell echoed once more.

 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
The second I reached Keira’s flower shop, I could clearly see from the glass windows that my gut feelings weren’t messing around with me again. **Having to witness a sight of the very man that the police are looking for is inside the very place where Keira considers the most important**. He didn’t falter to point the gun in his right hand towards Keira’s back as she was too busy putting away her flowers so casually, thinking that the someone who may have come to the shop is just another regular customer.  
“Fuck.”  
Taking a deep breath in and out while loosening my tie, I can’t easily lose my composure now because it may lead to Keira getting hurt. **_And I don’t think I can handle seeing someone I care about get hurt again_**. Being tactical, I decided to enter normally inside her flower shop before I plot my next move and in order not to scare Keira as well.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“I’m going to protect you no matter what, mademoiselle.”  
And as soon as the shop’s bell went ding ding ding, the man glanced back at me on cue just like I had planned but being quicker, I tossed my leather bag at full force towards his right hand which immediately sent the gun he held sliding down on the floor... right towards where Keira was standing.  
“S-Shit...!”  
“Merde, en effet.”  
Briskly, I grabbed Keira from behind and covered her eyes while taking the gun that was on the floor before he could and before he knew it, the gun he was just pointing to one woman’s back was now pointing directly at his very forehead as my right hand’s pointing finger was now on the trigger, _**ready to pull it back anytime**_.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Échec et mat. Checkmate then, monsieur Lee.”

Everything happened so quickly that I barely had any time to puzzle what was happening. But the minute I felt such strong arms grab me from behind and had that _clean, woody smell_ that I could tell in an instant, there could only be one man who was covering my eyes right now with his one hand.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“M-Monsieur...”  
“I’m sorry for being late, mademoiselle.”  
As he removed his hand from covering my eyes, he wrapped his free arm around my waist tightly while I couldn’t believe the sight I then saw as I finally managed to see for myself what was really happening.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
There the man that was being searched by the police and being reported by the news media kneeling right on my shop’s floor. But... that wasn’t the thing that surprised me the most. _That didn’t come close to the very emotions I felt seeing a gun was pointing straight to his forehead, **and it was being held by no other than the very man who was holding me close and securely**_.  
“Tu as embrouillé la mauvaise personne.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“J-Joon...”  
 **“You messed with the wrong person.”**  
It was the first time I was seeing **_such cold, but resolute looking brown eyes behind his black and gold spectacles_**. If there was a word for Namjoon’s eyes at this moment, the phrase ‘ ** _dragon eyes_** ’ was the most descriptive way I could think of. **He didn’t shake or tremble one bit as he was holding the gun in his right hand**. That was when it had dawned on me again... _I absolutely know so little of who the monsieur named Kim Namjoon really is_.

“P-Please... d-don’t pull the trigger... I... I... won’t do it again.”  
“Says the man who didn’t hesitate to point this very gun’s muzzle directly towards this mademoiselle’s back while she wasn’t looking.”  
I chuckled ironically at what he had to say as he looked at me with a very startled expression as I teasingly tried to pull back the gun’s trigger.  
“N-No...! P-Please have mercy...!”  
“Tu t'es senti comme ça quand tu as tué ton ex-femme? Did you even feel that way when you killed your own late ex-wife?”  
As much as I want to pull back the trigger with my bubbling anger rising so vigorously, only one voice could get through my **_raging in red_** thoughts that very second.  
“M-Monsieur... a-are you okay?”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
When I felt the warmth of Keira’s right hand on my right cheek, my raging thoughts slowly calmed down as she looked up at me with such _concerned gray eyes_ even though they were trying its best not to tremble because of the situation.  
“Ma chérie...”  
“I-I’m here Joon... o-okay?”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
 _“Namjoon, anger never resolves anything son. In this kind of life, you need to find something or someone that’ll keep you from crossing that very thin, fine line of your humanity... you’re a human, not a monster.”_  
Flashing me a small smile that felt like _**her usual saving grace**_ , I just kissed her on the forehead before my attention went back to the man who was still shaking in fear while being on his knees. Without batting an eye, I whipped him unconscious to the floor using the pistol’s grip itself on the side of his head.  
“M-Monsieur...”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Sssh. I’m here too, Keira... m-merci for what you just did now, mademoiselle... t-thank you really.”  
Throwing the gun towards the register, Keira then didn’t hesitate to wrap herself around my arms on cue. That’s when she started shaking heavily as I also hugged her tightly around me. _Her warmth and scent that were more than enough to give me peace_. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t even falter to shoot a bullet through that man’s head just now. **_If it wasn’t for her caïd_ , I would’ve given up my humanity to this horrid emotional called anger**.

Keira and I continued to hug each other in the silence as I wiped away the tears that were now sliding down her cheeks before we then heard police sirens echoing and police cars pulling over outside of the shop.

_This day just keeps getting more turbulent, really._

***  
 _Around more than an hour later:  
Keira’s flower shop_

 _BGM: Destiny (Girls’ Generation)_  
After the police came and took custody of the man who had they’ve been looking for since he escaped and with also a swirl of media men trying to get a the latest scoop of what’s happening, I dealt with all the talking while I let Keira rest as I glanced at her from time to time sitting near her flowers.  
“Do you have any more questions for me then, detective?”  
“No. I believe we have everything we needed to ask of you, Professor Kim. She’s the reason why you didn’t hesitate to defend her despite how dangerous the man was?”  
If only they knew that the dangerous man they’re trying to portray was just a pitiful man who realized the weight of what he had done a little too late. _That he was human_. **_A human who made a grave mistake. Just like I how almost did_**.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Yes. She’s important to me. That’s all I can say.”

 _“Let me handle everything from here, okay mademoiselle?”_  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
As I watched Namjoon talk to one detective to another who questioned him of everything that happened, he charismatically dealt with every one of them without stumble and stutter. _Why... why did it feel like he was so used to dealing with something like this?_ **_Why... why did it feel like when I remembered those cold brown eyes that took over his gaze a while ago... he was like a different person. A person with a lot of hidden secrets._**  
“W-What really lies beyond those brown eyes of yours... monsieur Namjoon-ssi...”  
 _I whispered to myself as my gray gaze met his on cue._ We both exchanged small smiles before another car pulled up in front of the shop. But this time it wasn’t a police car. It was a black, sedan car that you’d see someone with more prestige to own and drive.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“I-It can’t be...”  
I could only gasp at the two figures that then walked inside my flower shop. One of them being very familiar to me, especially that _brown hair and those pair of mysterious brown eyes_.  
“K-Keira-yah?”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“J-Jin oppa...?”  
Loosening his tie with a small sigh, he then ran up to me and embraced me _around his arms with the broad shoulders_.

 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
I didn’t know how to react the moment _a tall man with sleek, brown hair and had very sharp looking brown eyes_ came inside Keira’s shop and immediately mentioned her name. And she also recognized who he was by calling him ‘ ** _oppa_** ’ of all terms. Don’t even get me started the moment he runs up to her and hugs her which made Keira look at him in pure disbelief with trembling eyes.  
“W-What is the chief of the **_NIS_** even doing here?”  
What? Did? I? Just? Hear? I wasn’t hearing things now, right?

 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
It was unbelievable. The very person whom I’ve seen in news interviews and read on the internet, being the youngest chief of the nation’s leading intelligence agency, **who also happens to be my best friend in high school** , was really right in front of me. _The man named Kim Seokjin_.  
“Are you okay, Keira-yah?”  
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine oppa. But you didn’t answer my question...”  
Seokjin just sighed before patting me on the head saying,  
“Ah right. When I got word that the convicted man who was on the run was caught here in your shop, I had to make sure you were okay with my own eyes.”  
“Right... I’m supposed to believe that you came here to check up on me and not because you were too curious over what really happened to the man himself.”  
Scratching the back of his head with a chuckle, he replied with a grin before smiling for real this time,  
“Ah~ you’re not my best friend for nothing really, Keira-yah. I’m glad you’re safe though. I really am.”  
“T-Thank you, Jin oppa. But if it weren’t for the monsieur who protected me, I wouldn’t be standing here in one piece.”  
“The monsieur who protected you?”  
As his eyebrows arched up in curiosity of whom I meant, Namjoon’s gaze right away met with mine as I said,  
“Oui. That monsieur over there, oppa.”  
Seokjin’s brown eyes then couldn’t stop shaking the second he saw Namjoon approach us. I don’t know if it was out of surprise _or it was because of a reason I completely had no idea of_.

“Oh... so you must be Keira-yah’s _monsieur knight_ huh?”  
“J-Jin oppa really...”  
As my gaze met with the man with the _sharp looking brown eyes_ , standing right in front of Keira, his eyes then loosened up as his lips turned to a bright smile saying while reaching out his right hand to me,  
“I’m Kim Seokjin. _Chief of the NIS_ here in Seoul. And Keira-yah’s oppa.”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
Although I knew behind that smile, _there was a sense of cold air that only the two of us could notice_. Smiling as well for Keira’s sake, my right hand also met up with his for a handshake. **_A handshake that was filled with nothing but tension_**.  
“Je m'appelle Namjoon. Kim Namjoon. A law professor at _SNU_.”  
And I knew when our hands met, **_this very man knew who I was. And he recognized who I really am_**.

 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
When Namjoon and Seokjin introduced themselves and shook hands, they smiled cunningly at one another. **One was a handsome lawyer plus professor and the other was a handsome chief detective**. Even the lady police officers and detectives couldn’t stop glancing at the both of them.  
“Oh... so you’re a professor at _SNU_ then? And judging by how you can speak fluent French, you’re also _French_ like Keira-yah, Professor Kim?”  
Seokjin asked Namjoon with an awed expression.  
“ _Non_. I’m not half-French like mademoiselle Keira herself, but I spent the past seven years practicing law at France after I graduated at a law school in Europe.”  
“Ho~ I see then. But what is a French lawyer like yourself doing all the way here in Seoul? And most especially how did you even end up here in Keira-yah’s flower shop of all places today?”  
Sensing with where the conversation was going, especially knowing how Seokjin was always the curious type, I politely butted in by saying without hesitation,  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Oppa, monsieur Namjoon-ssi is **the man I’m currently seeing**...”

 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“M-Mademoiselle...”  
“W-What?!”  
Both Keira’s so-called _oppa_ and I could only blink and stare at her in shock of what came out of her mouth. Obviously the other was the more shocked one as his voice grew loud.  
“I don’t want to hide anything from you oppa, so yes it’s true. I really like this monsieur. That’s why... don’t be too interrogative of him.”  
Keira then glanced at me with a heartfelt smile as she delicately stroke my right cheek.  
“Haaaa... now this news is **more surprising** than of the news about a convict escaping.”  
The man named Seokjin sighed again before a man with slightly _wavy & curly, black hair and gentle pair of brown eyes_, who happened to be the other guy he came in with, walked up to him saying,  
“Chief, we’re needed back at HQ right now.”  
“Tell them the two of us will meet all of them in a while. By the way, can you keep Keira-yah company for a few minutes, lieutenant Jungkook?”  
“W-What?”  
“O-Oppa?”  
“...”  
Before any of us could even react, Seokjin then interlocked his left arm around my right one and swiftly snatched me away from Keira’s side as we headed towards near the register’s area while she and the younger detective could only blink in bewilderment.

As I watched Seokjin take Namjoon away so casually while laughing _his usual odd-sounding laugh_ as if they’re both friends or something, I could barely do anything since I was then left with a lieutenant who seemed to be his junior at work. He was just as confused as I was.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“I-It must be hard having Jin oppa as your superior huh? I’m... I’m Keira by the way.”  
“A-Ah... it’s okay... I’m used to it. I guess. A-Ah, I’m _Jeon Jungkook from NIS_ as well, Keira-ssi.”  
We both just introduced each other very _clumsily_ with a passing laugh **which was the exact opposite between the two men who had just left**.

“...”  
“...”  
As Seokjin finally got me alone, _his calm looking eyes then turned sharp_ while crossing both of his arms together and asked me with a serious tone,  
“Are you really going steady with Keira-yah, Professor Kim?”  
Was he trying to intimidate me? Trying not to scoff off a laugh, I pushed back my glasses and replied,  
“Didn’t the mademoiselle tell you that herself just now, _NIS Chief Kim_?”  
“Hmm... you’re indeed a lawyer who knows how to play around with words and is good with it indeed, _**monsieur charisme of the Heroux family**_.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
It’s been a while since I’ve heard someone refer to me like that. And the man **wasn’t** even from France or is French himself.  
“Ça fait un moment que j’ai entendu ça.”  
“Are you cussing me right now in French, Professor Kim?”  
Chuckling, I just told him,  
“I wouldn’t dare insult the head of the national intelligence service here in Seoul, monsieur.”  
“Is that so? If you’re playing with Keira-yah’s feelings, put to a stop to it right now. I’d rather have you not get her involve in whatever affairs you choose to do here in Korea.”  
And with just one sentence, _**I felt something within the back of my head snap**_ as I then didn’t waver by taking a few steps closer to him and laughed ironically for only the two of us could hear and said directly to his face,  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“That mademoiselle’s worth is more to me than what meets your eye, monsieur Seokjin-ssi. **My feelings for Keira are genuine just like her. And I’m not taking any piece of advice or shit from anybody**. You clearly know I’m a man who doesn’t back down on his word, right monsieur?”  
“...”  
Clearing his throat as I then stepped back away from him, I managed to get my words through to him as he said,  
“I’ll take your word for it then, Professor Kim. Man to man. But...”  
“But?”  
As we both glanced over to where Keira and his colleague were, he placed his hand on my right shoulder and told me lastly, _almost like a warning_ ,  
“If you ever get Keira-yah in danger because of your past life or you even dare to make her cry, don’t think I’m going to go easy shit on you. **She deserves nothing but happiness, Kim Namjoon-ssi. You better remember that**.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Je comprends clairement, monsieur Seokjin-ssi.”

“Jungkook-ssi, let’s get going then.”  
“A-Ah sure, chief!”  
Walking back to where they were, Keira then placed both of her hands on my cheeks and whispered,  
“Monsieur... did Jin oppa interrogate you too much?”  
Cupping her hands on my cheeks, I lightly shook my head and just told her smiling,  
“ _Non_. No, it’s okay mademoiselle. We were just talking man-to-man, don’t worry.”  
“Your monsieur’s right, Keira-yah. It was just a casual conversation between _a lawyer and detective_.”  
As Keira then said her goodbyes to the two, _**Seokjin and I caught each other’s stare for one last time**_ before he gave Keira one last hug and exited the flower shop with his colleague.  
“I’ll keep in touch, Keira-yah.”  
“Don’t work too hard, Jin oppa...!”

After Seokjin and Jungkook exited the scene, the latter on cue couldn’t stop himself from asking,  
“S-Sunbae... w-was that man who’s with Keira-ssi really him...?”  
“Yes. That’s the exact same man you, yourself had told me about Jungkook-ah. The lawyer from France named Kim Namjoon.”  
As Jungkook sneaked one last glance at the glass window where Namjoon and Keira could be seen, he then said while massaging his chin,  
“W-Wow... as expected... he looked more handsome in person than in the photo, sunbae.”  
“H-Hey...!”  
Seokjin could only slouch his shoulders with a long sigh while also massaging his temples in exhaustion as they both got inside his car.

***  
 _In the early evening:_

After Seokjin, Jungkook, and the rest of the police plus detectives wrapped up and finished everything they needed to take care of in my shop, there was finally peace and quiet as I closed up for the day and let down the shop’s blinds. _**And only one monsieur was with me now**_.  
“This sure has been a long day huh, monsieur?”  
“It sure has been, mademoiselle.”  
“C-Can I hug you?”  
“Come here.”  
It felt good to finally hug Namjoon without any prying eyes and it was just the two of us.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“...”  
“Keira... ma chérie, you’re still shaking...”  
“P-Post jitters I guess...”  
Caressing the back of my hair, Namjoon really knew how to ease me in the most comforting way. _Just thinking about how things would’ve turned out if he didn’t come... the fear started to creep around me.  
*thump* *thump*_  
“Y-You should get going too monsieur... I know you must’ve come here in a hurry despite of your lectures...”  
Placing his right hand on my chin, my gray eyes meet his deep brown eyes so naturally.  
“Is that what you really want, ma chérie? Do you really want me to leave you alone after what happened today?”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“J-Joon...”  
“Dis-moi ce que tu veux vraiment. **Tell me what you really want, Keira**.”  
Not being able to hold back anymore, I simply told him, more like asked of him,  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“D-Don’t leave me alone tonight, Namjoon-ssi. S'il-vous-plaît...”

When Keira looked at me with those _dreamy, gray eyes_ of hers and asked me to stay with her, I kissed slowly her soft lips telling her,  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Oui... Je t'ai entendu haut et fort. I heard you loud and clear, my mademoiselle.”  
We just engulfed in each other’s affections for a little while longer before Keira prepared dinner and tea for both of us since her apartment was right above her flower shop itself.  
“Merci for dinner and tea, ma chérie.”  
“It’s the least I can do for everything you’ve done today, Namjoon-ssi.”  
“...”  
“...”  
Before we knew it, silence took over us as Keira didn’t stop staring at me as if she had something to ask of me but she couldn’t easily bring it up.  
“Keira... your eyes are trying to tell me something but I won’t know unless you tell me yourself.”  
“Is it that obvious, monsieur?”  
“Oui, mademoiselle. Very much.”  
As she then reached out her hands to hold mine from across the table, it was my eyes’ turn to start trembling at the very question Keira then asked me,  
“Monsieur Namjoon-ssi... can I ask you then... **what’s the real reason you came back to Korea after being in France for so long**?”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Ma chérie...”  
“N-No... that’s a bit crass of me to ask after you protected my life today. But just tell me this one thing, Namjoon-ssi...”  
Looking at me earnestly, she asked again,  
“ **Are you in some kind of danger that made you come back here**?”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
I can’t keep dodging questions about my past, can I _caïd_? Especially if it’s Keira who’s asking about it.  
“Instead of telling you, let me show it to you. Will you come with me somewhere important this weekend then, Keira?”

 _BGM: Colorful (Minah)_  
This was a first. It was the first time that it was Namjoon who had asked me to come somewhere with him. That somewhere he wants to show me must be a very important place to him. Not doubting my answer, I nodded.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Bien sûr. Of course, monsieur. How can I refuse when it’s you?”  
“Noted on that then, my mademoiselle.”  
Squeezing my hands, he took my right one closer to his lips and kissed the back of it which made my nerves jump. It was the good kind of goosebumps though.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“A-Aah, m-monsieur...”  
“K-Keira, if you keep reacting like that...”  
With little effort, he pulled me closer to his side and started leaving _**pecks of light kisses all over my hands heading upwards**_ to parts of my arms that the minute he reached my neckline, he traced his long fingers on them which on cue made me sigh dreamily.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“H-Haaa... N-Namjoon-ssi...”  
“Haaa... your reactions are really turning me on, mademoiselle... m-merde.”  
I let out a giggle when he playfully tried to _tickle the sensitive parts of my neckline_ with his lips and long fingers.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“M-Monsieur... t-that tickles...”  
“Is that so...? Even here?”  
I squealed softly when he pecked me teasingly behind my right and left earlobe. _**His light kisses were literally little tastes of heaven**_. That’s how it felt for me. _And it was arousing me every single time_.

“A-Aaah... n-not there monsieur...”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
As Keira’s rosy cheeks were blushing as her gray eyes looked at me with such an _amorous look_ , there was no use of controlling myself when it comes to her.  
“L-Les choses que tu me fais ma chérie...”  
“M-Monsieur...”  
Caressing Keira’s cheeks, I kissed her again on the cheeks, nose, eyelids, forehead, chin, and lips before asking her,  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Keira, **time for your extended lesson then mademoiselle**.”

When Namjoon’s brown eyes all of a sudden turned _serious but provocative with his ever deep and mellow whispers_ , _**it felt like I was hypnotized**_. And he was the sole one capable of doing that to me.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“O-Oui, Professor Kim...”  
Standing up, he led me by the hand towards one part of the flower shop, in particular, right in between two of the white, flower shelves.

There was something so sexy about Keira calling me ‘ _Professor_ ’ that it was the only cue I needed before I wanted to get lost in her entirely.  
“Lean your back to the wall, Keira love.”  
Looking at me with an alluring smile, she did as she was told and said,  
“Oui... and what’s next Professor Kim?”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“I’m going to show you the consequences of calling me _Professor_ so charmingly ma chérie...”  
Gently taking off her _open-toed, white, wedge heels_ , she let out a soft moan the second I kissed the top of her feet.  
“M-Monsieur r-really...”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“ _Non_ , don’t move an inch mademoiselle or **_I’ll be extra hard on you_**.”  
“J-Jeez...”

As Namjoon’s fingers started tracing and touching me from my ankles going up towards my legs and eventually reaching the end of my dress’ skirt, he then whispered to me,  
“Wrap your arms around my neck now, Keira.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“O-Oui...”  
Doing what I was told, the moment I wrapped my arms around his neck, _**he swoops me up in his strong, muscular arms that both of his hands were now caressing me on my thighs that it enticed me even more**_. I barely could do a thing too since my back was still leaning on the wall and I had to keep my arms around his neck to balance myself. _What a scarily tactical monsieur.  
*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“A-Aaah~ you’re a tactical man aren’t you, monsieur?”  
“ **The lesson has barely started** , mademoiselle.”  
Without further ado, as his hands were exploring my thighs while lifting the skirt part of my dress, Namjoon’s lips kept me busy as our tongues found each other’s in a snap. _**His kiss was so romantic and aggressive altogether that we both couldn’t help but let out a few groans**_. _He growled invitingly when I bit him teasingly on his lips_.  
“F-Fuck, you don’t play fair ma chérie...”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“M-Mmm... y-you don’t like it then, Professor Kim?”

Fuck. Keira’s tempting smile was both of a little angel and little devil _who knew what she wanted and **I wanted to give everything to her**._  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Who says I don’t, mademoiselle Keira-ssi?”  
Unzipping her _mini lilac dress with the cute floral prints from the back_ , I slid off of her shoulders the _short-sleeved, white, cotton cardigan_ she was also wearing along with her dress.  
“H-Hmmm... how many sleeveless summer dresses do you even own ma chérie...?”  
“Too many to count monsieur...”  
As the straps of her dress drop down as the zip on her dress was now reaching its end, _**my heart pounded in acceleration as I marveled at Keira’s melanin skin that was like a newly bloomed flower**_.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Punaise vraiment moi... damn me really...”  
She was wearing a _white, cotton strapless bra_ that I couldn’t bear not to take it off any longer.  
“J-Joon...”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“F-Fuck... h-how can my mademoiselle be this beautiful?”  
Keira moaned the second I entrapped my lips with hers all over again as I fondled and got to know _her pair of goddesses that trembled and froze with every touch_.  
“H-Haaaa... h-haaaa... m-monsieur...!”  
“S-Such a sensitive pair just like their mademoiselle...”  
She yelped and tightened her arms around my neck the second I then started kissing her breasts and bit them teasingly on the nipples.  
“A-Aaah...! N-Namjoon-ssi...!”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Sssh Keira love, **this is barely a start**...”  
Kissing her chest, I finally got to unzip the rest of her dress that together with her cardigan and bra that were now on the floor, Keira was only left in her underwear _**and that was already a sight to behold for me**_.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“F-Fuck me...”  
“Y-Your stare is really making me embarrassed monsieur...”  
As I kissed her lightly on the lips, I stroked her now sweating, flushed-up cheeks and said,  
“I hope this lesson of mine will let you know how breathtakingly beautiful you are, _mon amour_.”  
“A-Ahhh... m-monsieur Joon...!”  
Without wavering, I slipped one hand inside her underwear and started massaging _the most sensitive part of her_ , _**her very own flower**_ , while the other took both of her arms that were wrapped around my neck and pinned them against the wall as I continued to let my lips communicate with hers.

 _It was dizzying and electrifying_. _**The way so many colors explode every time Namjoon touched me and kissed me and made his affections for me be made known through his actions**_. And damn, _he was fucking good at it_ that my heart, body, and even soul melted for him.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“M-Mmm... m-monsieur... J-Joon...”  
“Mon amour, tu es déjà en train de te mouiller... you’re wet already my love and we haven’t reached the best part of the lesson yet...”  
“W-Whose fault do you think it is...?”  
Pecking me on my exposed shoulders, he just gave me a handsome smirk saying,  
“I’ll show you what I mean then, Keira.”  
My whole senses just screamed in pleasure the next moment Namjoon’s lips went lower and he reached _the very front of the **most impressionable part** of my body where he didn’t hold back from letting his tongue slip inside it.  
*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“F-Fuck...! A-Ahhh...! M-Monsieur...!”  
“H-Haaa... K-Keira...”

Like a bee who was sucking the nectar from a flower, that was how I felt when I got a taste of Keira’s sweetness. _And fuck, if that was how heaven had tasted like, I wouldn’t want to forget it no matter what_. _**All the wrong flowers that came to me were simply to make way for the right one. The right flower which was her.**_  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“S-Shit, the way I can’t stop myself anymore mademoiselle.”  
After sucking in for one more time, I met our lips together and groaned telling her,  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“T-This is how you taste, **_mon amour petal_**...”  
“M-Mmm... J-Joon...”  
Leaning our foreheads together, I simply asked of her next,  
“Now it’s your turn my love... take off my clothes s’il-vous-plaît...”

 _BGM: Sweet Crazy Love (LOONA / OEC)_  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
When Namjoon asked me so gorgeously to take off his clothes while I admired the trickles of sweat that was falling from _**his face that felt like it was sculpted by the gods**_ , how can I not refuse?  
“As you wish then, Professor Kim...”  
Taking off his _black tie first_ , I then went on to take off his _black suit’s coat_. _The whiff of his musky, woody cologne was getting stronger and made me woozy_. But that didn’t come close to the feelings I got while unbuttoning his _white, long-sleeved polo_.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“M-Monsieur...”  
“You’re enjoying this aren’t you, my little minx?”  
Pecking his lips, I nodded with a giddy feeling.  
“O-Oui... and you tell me I’m the breathtaking one.”  
As his polo plopped down to the floor, _**me and my feminine instincts could only stare in awe while my heart went into a heavenly trance seeing Namjoon’s bare upper body**_. _The strongly built arms of his and those shoulders that felt like a sturdy home every time he hugged me_. Tracing my fingers on his firm chest and muscles, he sighed dreamily. Just like how I had felt when he was the one touching me.  
“Haaaa... m-mademoiselle...”  
“Tu es belle my monsieur...”  
I kissed his sweating chest that was heavily pounding. _God, how can one man be this drop-dead handsome and altogether?_  
“Y-You sure are taking your sweet time with me huh, mademoiselle Keira?”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“H-How can I not, my stunning monsieur Joon?”  
As he distracted me by kissing me vigorously with a small growl, that didn’t stop me from _taking off in a hurry his black belt and unzipped his black slacks_ that on cue fell to the floor. We were now bare for each other. Well, almost. I completely forgot about the _silver wristwatch_ he’s always wearing.  
“O-Okay, enough playtime mademoiselle Keira. **Time for the real lesson**.”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“H-Haaa...!”  
I shrieked the minute Namjoon whispered to me on cue,  
“If it’s going to hurt mademoiselle, you tell me? Tu comprends?”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“O-Oui...”  
“That’s a good mademoiselle. Grip on tightly.”  
As he swiftly takes off his underwear, _my whole senses took flight in pure bliss when he didn’t even take second thoughts of entering inside of me faster than I can yelp in reaction_.

“A-Ahhh... a-aaah... m-monsieur... h-haaa... h-aaaa...”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“H-Haaa... h-haaa... f-fuck Keira... d-don’t hold back your screams for me.”  
As soon as I entered Keira’s clit, I softened her elated screams and my moaning by crashing our lips over and over again with one another’s while continuing _my slow, but intimate thrusts inside her._  
“H-Haaa... d-does it hurt, mademoiselle?”  
“M-Mmm... a-aaah... n-non... p-plus vite, s'il vous plaît monsieur?”  
When she asked me to go faster, I just kissed her sweating forehead and said while pining her hands back to the wall,  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Oui... there’s nothing more I want, mon amour.”

 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“A-Aaaah...! J-Joon...! H-Haaaa...!”  
 _ **With the scent of the flowers and Namjoon’s scent getting mixed together, my whole body was now filled with euphoria**_. As his thrusts within me went faster and even more zealously, _the rushing happiness was so hard to put into words_. So this is how it feels to share your first time with this one monsieur.  
“T-Tu es tellement belle my mademoiselle petal... so... so beautiful...”  
He whispered to me lovingly before _his kisses felt like little feathers that tickled my lips_ which was the **_complete opposite of his thrusts that were rushing ocean waves that raptured me from head to toe, body and soul_**.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“M-Monsieur, let me touch you...”  
“I-It’d be an honor... f-fuck Keira... h-hold on tight.”  
“A-Ahhh...! H-Hmmm... N-Namjoon...!”  
As the thrusts were getting more passionate and intense, _I had to hold on **more tightly** to him that my nails and hands were starting to dig deeper into the back of his soft brown hair that was now a literal mess plus that broad back of his, **good lord**_. Our loud, hoarse breathings could only be repressed by our lips as I placed both of my hands on his sweating cheeks when our dazed eyes met up.  
“A-Are you ready for **the last part of the lesson** , mademoiselle Keira?”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“Y-Yes, Professor Kim...”  
Within a snap, he carried me steadily towards the long table that had some of my potted flowers displayed and lets me lay down from there.

Staring at Keira’s _inviting pair of gray eyes_ from above me as I laid her down on the table while there were potted flowers surrounding her, _god I was honestly speechless at how radiant she looked in my perspective_. I didn’t know sex could be this romantic. **_Because it wasn’t sex with her. It was making love. And she’s the only one who made a clear difference to that._**  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“D-Damn... I might get used to this view...”  
“Hmm... m-me too... is that weird to you, monsieur?”  
Pecking her sweating and exposed chest, I just grinned at her before spreading her legs apart saying,  
“ _N-Non_... not at all mon amour. Now, **time for the last lesson**.”  
Both of us wailed ecstatically as I finished my last round of thrusts inside of her while Keira was holding me tightly at the back of my hair as our lips wouldn’t magnetize away from each other’s.  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“M-Mhmmm... m-merde... h-haaa... K-Keira...!”  
“H-Haaa... a-aaahh... m-mmm... j-je t'aime beaucoup m-my monsieur Namjoon...!”  
I had to grip tightly onto the table’s edges as our pantings echoed through the late night’s silence that _it felt like the table could break for us **at any moment now** aside from the potted flowers because of all the shaking._  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“J-Je t'aime bien aussi my mademoiselle Keira...”  
I whispered to her before lovingly kissing _her precious cherry lips_.

“M-Monsieur... I-I’m coming...”  
“T-Then come with me, mon amour...”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
It felt like _an_ _out-of-body experience that by the time we reached the climax of this lesson, I was exhausted_. **_Exhausted in the most delightful way._**  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“H-Haaa... h-haaaa... t-the man that you are my monsieur...”  
“M-Mhmmm... and the man that you make me become my mademoiselle...”  
With the last wave of pleasing rush coming to the two of us, we both heavily panted as _Namjoon then delicately pulls me up again in his sweating but always secure arms as we sit together on the floor, hugging_.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“M-Mmm... m-monsieur... first the wall, then the table, and now here on the floor... really?”

Tucking in a bit of Keira’s hair behind her ear, I couldn’t hide a smile the second she said that to me giggling.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“D-Don’t give me that adorable little giggle of yours or I’ll take you for **another quick lesson** on the floor, mademoiselle.”  
“F-Fine~ Professor Kim...”  
She’s really making it difficult for me to stop myself from taking in another round of her and her sweetness that were addicting altogether. _Addicting than any intoxicating drug._  
“W-Why did you let us hug here in the floor instead on top of the table?”  
“D-Do you want a broken table aside from those broken flowers pots the next morning?”  
Snuggling on my chest that was still pounding heavily after our lesson, Keira just told me,  
“T-That was a breathtaking lesson, monsieur... as expected of everyone’s Professor Kim...”  
Kissing the top of her head, I just wrapped her around my bare embrace saying with a slight chuckle,  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“You’re the only mademoiselle I’ll give **special lessons** to, Keira... quoi qu'il arrive. _**The only exception**_.”  
“If... if I tell you **I’m up for another lesson monsieur** , what would you say...?”  
As she peeked up prettily with those eyes of hers at my face, there could only be one proper answer to her question. _Blowing a kiss on her cherry lips_ , I naturally said,  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“Y-You are one appealingly curious mademoiselle, aren’t you? D'accord alors. **I’ll teach you until daylight then... don’t say I didn’t warn you.** ”

I could only gasp heartily the moment Namjoon lets us stands up from our sitting position and coolly holds me tight on my thighs while my arms wrapped around his neck securely as he walks up to my apartment through the shop’s back door.

_**Through the night, he would teach me how colorful, sweet, and crazy love really was**. And I wouldn’t have it in any other way, even if I were to wake up all sore and breathless when daylight comes._

**  
 _The next morning:_

 _BGM: Back Hug (Girls’ Generation)_  
“Hmm...?”  
As I could feel the sun’s rays shining right through the window, I could only grumble at how sore my body was. _Note to self, never provoke someone like Namjoon because his special lessons for me really lasted until late in the early morning_. _**He wasn’t kidding around.**_  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
 _“I’m not done with your lesson yet, mon amour.”_  
As my eyes blinked open, I couldn’t stop myself from blushing **at the recall of all our lessons**.  
“J-Jeez... s-stop blushing like an idiot Keira...”  
“What’s making this adorable mademoiselle blush the moment she wakes up?”  
“E-Eep...”  
I squealed a little the second I was about to twist around the bedsheets, a familiar warmth then climbed back on the bed and wrapped his arms around my waist.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“J-Joon...”  
“Bonjour Keira... is your body still sore mon amour?”  
As he pecked me on my shoulder, I softly groaned and said to his handsome face in the morning while _poking the dimples showing off his cheeks,_  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“I-Is that even an obvious question Professor Kim?”  
“Well... **you were the one who suggested for lessons until daylight mademoiselle**. And call me _Professor_ one more time, and I’ll guarantee I’ll take you on this bed again right here, right now.”  
Feeling flustered, I just looked away from him and snuggled on his chest instead.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“J-Jeez... p-please no... I’m still aching all over because of you...”  
“I know how to take a bit of the aches away.”  
“What do you m—, m-mmm...”  
When I was about to look up at him, I was caught in surprise again when he then kissed me so carefully on my lips in the morning. **_It made me swoon like a lovesick fool_.**  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“M-Monsieur... j-jeez...! S-Stop teasing me already...!”

Oh to see Keira’s flushed up expression and seeing her wake up in the morning by my side, it felt like if this is the **_normalcy_** I deserved in this life _caïd_... _I wouldn’t mind it at all. **As long as I can be by her side**_.  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“I’m not teasing you one bit, mademoiselle.”  
“Hmph.”  
Playing around with her hair, _she looked radiating as the morning sun_. It felt like there was something stuck in my throat that I was lost for words **_staring at Keira’s fair skin being illuminated by the sun’s rays shining through the window. And those glimmering, perfect gray eyes that can stare down at my very soul._**  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“I vow to protect you whatever happens, Keira. Je le promets.”  
“N-Namjoon-ssi...”  
“That’s why... **just stay by my side**. D'accord my mademoiselle?”  
Small tears formed around the corners of her eyes as I cupped her cheeks. Keira then nodded and also cupped her hands on my cheeks while we stared eye-to-eye at one another.

 _“I vow to protect you whatever happens,”_  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
Even though I barely know the real face of the monsieur staring at me right in the eyes, especially with all the questions I still have about the side of him I saw yesterday when he protected me, I could tell that he wasn’t insincere. **_His feelings weren’t insincere to least. And with that, I was falling more in love with him._**

But was this the kind of love worth risking it all? _I honestly have no idea yet._  
But was I going to regret jumping on to the idea of being in love with him? **_Probably never._**

***  
 ** _A few days later..._**  
 _At a private shooting range_  
 _Seoul, South Korea_

 _BGM: And there was no one left (DREAMCATCHER)_  
“W-What did you just say Namjoon-ssi?”  
“I want you to watch over Keira when I’m not around, Yoongi-ssi. Especially when I have lectures at _SNU_.”  
 _*bang* *bang*_  
After hitting the last two targets right in the middle, I put down the pistol and took off the protective goggles while facing _the only man I can ask of this strange favor._  
“K-Keira-ssi? Is that the woman from the flower shop and the one who gave you those flowers back at your apartment?”  
Nodding, I crossed my arms together telling him,  
“Yes. She’s important to me and since I’ve been getting the strong gut feeling that someone from my past life in France might be tracking my life here at Seoul, I don’t want to risk her safety. No matter what.”  
“B-But why me?”  
With a chuckle, I replied without hesitation,  
“Do you really think I can trust this with someone else, Min Yoongi-ssi?”  
“More like it’s because you barely know anybody here in Korea though.”  
“Hmm... touché. You’re the right man for the job. And technically, your father and your grandfather did say I can ask you assistance for anything too?”  
With a sigh, he just scratched the back of his head saying,  
“Ah, fine, fine! I can’t win over a damn lawyer no matter how hard I try, especially if he was known as _monsieur charisme in France_.”  
“Bien. But first thing’s first, do you know how to shoot or even use a gun?”  
He blinked at my question and said while shaking his head,  
“No, of course not. Just because my family and the _Heroux_ family were acquaintances, it doesn’t mean I’m familiar with things like these. Not to mention, the gun laws here in South Korea are pretty strict.”  
So he doesn’t know how to shoot? _This was a real risk I have to take but realizing I’m doing this to protect Keira from whatever shit has followed me all the way here in Korea, I’m not going to lose for the third time around_. I refuse to.  
“Then, I’ll teach you.”  
“W-What?”  
Grabbing the pistol, I then threw it lightly to him that he looked at me even more baffled than he already was after he caught it in his hands.  
“Whoever’s following me on my tracks, they’re not going to be treated lightly, Yoongi-ssi. Whether they’re smart or simply a dunce, there’s one thing you can never forget. **They’ll always carry a gun with them.** ”  
“W-Why does it feel like I’m in some kind of action movie or something of that sort, Namjoon-ssi?”  
I then recalled what Keira’s so-called Jin oppa had told me a few days ago,  
 _“If you ever get Keira-yah in danger because of your past life or you even dare to make her cry, don’t think I’m going to go easy shit on you. She deserves nothing but happiness, Kim Namjoon-ssi. You better remember that.”_  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“ _Non_. This is real life, Min Yoongi-ssi. Sadly, this was my life before. But now... now that I have someone to protect once again, **there is no way in hell I’m going to let a bunch of vultures trample all over my life here in Seoul**.”  
 _Caïd, Reneé,_ I won’t let those _**vultures**_ trample over your family name. Now that I’ve found someone I want to devote my protection to from here on forth just like you had told me, there was no way I’m going to screw this up as well.  
“How do you plan on dealing with the vultures then, Namjoon-ssi?”  
“C'est simple.”  
 _*bang*_  
Taking the other pair of pistol in front of me, I just smirked while putting on the protective goggles again and pulling back the trigger that then hits the target that was shaped in a silhouette right on the dotted line of the forehead.  
“As the French always say monsieur Min Yoongi, **_À bon chat, bon rat_**.”  
“What does that mean Namjoon-ssi?”  
Cocking the slide of the gun, I told him with a wry smile as I aimed for the dotted line on the chest this time around,  
“ ** _To a good cat, a good rat_**. Equally matched, tit for tat. It’s how the French describe competitors that improve as they fight against one another or to describe someone meeting an adversary worth his mettle. But,”  
“But?”  
 _*bang*_  
“Those **_vultures_** aren’t worthy to be called a good cat or good rat. And most certainly, they’re not worth my mettle and even of the late _caïd_ of the _Heroux_ family.”

Feeling determined, I was now more than ready to tell a part of who I really am to Keira by tomorrow.

***  
 _Meanwhile in Keira’s flower shop:_  
 _Around the same time_

 _BGM: 4 Memory (DREAMCATCHER)_  
 _“Will you come somewhere important with me this weekend, Keira?”_  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“So it’s finally tomorrow huh...”  
While I was being stuck in wonder of the possibilities on where Namjoon is going to take me tomorrow as I was arranging new flower pots inside the shop, the bell made an echoing sound signaling a new customer entering.  
“Ah, welcome! How may I help y—,”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
And I couldn’t believe the _tall silhouette with the cool, black hair and unfathomable pair of brown eyes_ who was dressed so sophisticatedly in his _gray suit_ that came inside on cue. **_A someone whom you could see and recognize in newspapers and even in television and on the internet_**.  
“So you must be Keira-ssi huh?”  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
I could only nod in dumbstruck silence before he reached out his right hand to me saying with a cordial smile,  
“I’m Attorney Kim Taehyung, pleased to meet your acquaintance.”  
To think _the very face_ of one of the biggest law firms here in Seoul is standing right inside my flower shop right now. Why is one of the most well-known lawyers in the country at the moment here?  
 _*thump* *thump*_  
“N-No, I should be the one saying that Attorney Kim.”  
“You’re a very formal woman aren’t you, Keira-ssi? I know you’re confused to why I’m even here of all places, but don’t worry. I’m just here for a friendly chat.”  
Blinking puzzlingly, I could only reply,  
“A-A friendly chat about what Attorney Kim?”  
“Let’s just say what I’m about to tell you is of big importance to you and **it has to do with one person himself** , Keira-ssi.”  
 _*thump* *thump* *thump*_  
“W-What?”

This week has already been eventful enough. And it then dawned on me like a big slap to the face. _**Ever since one monsieur came to my life, the once normalcy of this life I’ve been used to didn’t seem normal anymore**_.

With new people and old friends coming into the picture, it added more piling up questions about one man.  
 _ **The invisible, dotted lines all connected to him**_.  
 _Just who are you really, monsieur Kim Namjoon-ssi?_

****

** _To be continued in Chapitre 2_ **

~~_finished: 03/07/2021_ ~~


End file.
